Brain Tumours

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Hi,

This is my first time reaching out to anything like this, I just feel so devastated and angry at the world right now.

My Dad was first diagnosed with cancer about 14 years ago, he had major brain surgery to remove the tumour then had radiotherapy afterwards. Unfortunately his cancer back back about 2 years ago, and he underwent gamma knife treatment. I received the sad news last Thursday that his cancer has come back for a third time, he is to undergo another major brain surgery, which they didn’t want to do last time (and opted for gamma knife instead) as when he first got cancer, he contracted a massive infection in his brain and spent a long time in hospital recovering.

Not only has my lovely dad got to deal with this, but he was diagnosed with progressive relapsing MS a few years after his first cancer diagnosis. They have told him that they will not be able to offer him further after treatment such as radiotherapy, due to him having previous treatment.

I suppose, I just don’t know where to turn. I’m so worried about his upcoming surgery, he’s due an appointment on the 8th April with his surgeon. My question is, what will happen if they don’t manage to get all the cancer out? Will they just leave it if they can’t offer further treatment?

thankyou in advance

Luzia - Macmillan 10 days ago

Hi CatMum96

Welcome to our online community, I notice you have not joined any of our forums. You may find the Brain Cancer Forum and the Family and Friends Forum helpful and supportive places to visit.

Thank you for your question about your dad and his treatment. I’m Luzia, one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists who works on the Macmillan Support Line.

Here at the Macmillan Support Line, we can give general advice and support. We are independent from the NHS and don’t have access to medical records so can’t give personalised information.

I hear the devastation, sadness and anger about your dad’s relapse of the Brain tumour. It is such a difficult time for family members.

You are right, he would not be able to have radiotherapy to the same area again, however there may be other treatments available to him. It sounds like the first step is the surgery. I can understand that you are concerned about this following the infection he had with the initial surgery. Because of the previous infection after the surgery, they would likely take additional precautions with antibiotics to hopefully prevent this. Hopefully they will be able to remove all the tumour. If that is not possible, he may be a candidate for chemotherapy or other treatments. The Brain Tumour Charity have good information and support available.

I wonder if it would be an idea to talk to a trained counsellor, there is free counselling for family members with the Brain Tumour Charity. It might be helpful to talk your feelings through with a professional.

This must be a very difficult time for you. Please call one of our nurses directly if you want to talk over your situation. We may then be able to give you further information.

Take care,

Luzia

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist

Ref: LzM/AW

Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. If you think it may be useful to chat things over in real time, we have our webchat service available 7 days a week 8am-8pm.

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Brain Tumours