Has anyone had their driving licence reissued following successful treatment for brain mets or know of anyone who has.

www.gov.uk/.../neurological-disorders-assessing-fitness-to-drive

Hi dont know if the above link works - hopefully it will.  My husband 53 is in same situation - i am reading it as 1 year after treatment as long as everything else ok for brain mets.

Take care xx

Hi 

 I have the  same  condition   and  am 8 months  on  from  initial  brain  and  lung  surgery

 Also had  the  stirotatic  surgery    3 months  ago

 Within   seven  days of being  weaned  of of  the   steroids    I had  another  seizure

 I am awaiting the  full  MRI  and  consultation    now  but  am back on steroids

 I  am  told  that  the  latest seizure  could  be  brain  damage  from  the  radiation 

 I must  admit this  seizure was different  to the  initial one   however  seems to have left me  with the  shakes and  twitches

 I  am  given to understand   you need  a letter from your  specialist to  say you  are  1 year  free   however be carefull

 as my  seizure  came out  of tthe  blue . If  I had been driving  I would be  dead

Hi Wendy and Tony, thanks very much for replying it is much appreciated, and Tony so sorry to hear about your ongoing complications... I understand from your profile that you were at one point “cancer free”, do you mind me asking what the initial brain surgery was for and what that involved? We’d really appreciate also knowing if you have been advised by your consultant of the one year seizure free or whether it was from dvla website. Wendy many thanks for the link, does your husband appear also to meet those medical standards and is he looking forward to driving again? we have already studied the information on here and spoken with dvla in regards to it. However it is Martins LCSN that has told me in her experience she has never known anyone receive their licence back or the consultants agree to confirming fit to drive as dvla will not reissue until consultants confirm. I have asked her to find out more information to clarify why because our understanding from dvla is that if following successful treatment (which does not include brain surgery which involves “opening up” someone’s brain)  chemotherapy or radiation and as long as there is no further progression from the primary within the initial year from the treatment date, in our case stereotactic radiosurgery and no seizures and the patient is “otherwise well” a licence can be reissued. The reason for our query so early as Martin only had his stereotactic surgery in Dec 2017 is that when speaking to dvla following him surrendering his licence they have wrote to us saying: check with your doctor(s) that you are able to satisfy the medical standards for driving, before completing and returning the enclosed forms. So sorry that this is such a long post but trying to support Martin as best I can as he still works full time although on secondment to another role as he is unable to drive, if it turns out he will never receive his licence back unfortunately his employers  will have no alternative but to terminate his contract. Martin is anxious to know for sure rather than get his hopes unnecessarily. Again many thanks and appreciate any information to give us some clarification. Love and Best Wishes Dawn.

Hi All, been researching on line and have read the medical professions guidelines from dvla website and found minutes from their medical panels meetings and it appears dvla have led Martin up the garden path, from what I understand at this point in time it's a no to him getting his licence back... period!!!! So cross that they've advised him so incorrectly leading him to be upbeat about getting his license back, wasting his precious time and energy telling folks etc.. so cruel... will be following the complaints procedure, although not even sure they will give a damn. Best Wishes and Love Dawn. Xx

Hi Dawn - this is disappointing for you both.  Xx

Hi Wendy, thanks for your reply, it is disappointing for me, devastating for Martin however there is still hope that in the future there may be a change when more information and data is available to assess the safety of driving for those treated with immunotherapy that have had brain mets.... Hope you and your Hubby are doing well, Take Care, Love and Best Wishes. Dawn. Xx

Hello Dawn,
I surrendered my driving licence two years ago after developing brain mets from Lung cancer.  Officially, I was advised that if I lasted two years without another seizure I could apply for my licence back.

At the time i was informed by the oncology team that they now considered me to be terminal and my research suggested i had an average 6-9 month to live.so I did not expect to live long enough to think about driving again.   I gave my car away.

I have now been seizure free for two years (after sterotactic brain surger) but am too anxious to apply for my licence back and cannot afford to buy another car anyway.  I have learned to adjust with my OAP bus pass, regular outings with a local community transport scheme and the benefit of a disability badge which encourages friends to want to take me out and about.

AND . . . I am still here . . . perhaps it rarely happens for somebody to get their licence back  purely because they are not expected to live long enough for it to matter?  

Just concentrate on healthy living in the meantime and your husband might be in the same position as me - to get his licence back in two years time if he still wants it.

You could treat him to a drive at Silverstone race track (Or one of the others?) - don't think you need a driving licence to do that and it's not too expensive.  Alternatively Go-karting can be fun.

Thanks very much for your reply....it's much appreciated.So good to hear you are still able to get out and about, Love and Best wishes Dawn.

Hi dawn

Hope you and your husband are ok.  Did you find out what the possible timescale could be for getting licence back

Wendy x

Hi Wendy, not been on the site for a while so sorry for the delay in answering. Thank you Martin and I are doing well, got the results from the first mri scan on his brain since the stereotactic surgery and it looks good, significant improvement and nothing significant to be concerned about was what the consultant said, she explained again that they would be unable to say for sure that the brain tumour is gone as the scar tissue can hide or resemble the tumour, however as Martin feels so well and still has no signs ie headaches, the weird sensation in his arm and hand the treatment has been very successful. However no to reapplying for his driving licence,they will look at the possibility of him regaining his car licence (not hgv) in six months time following two more positive mri scans, no guarantees he will ever get it back though, but should he continue  to improve and they still say no we will challenge the decision. Hope you’re both doing ok. Best Wishes and love.Dawn