Thinking his migraines and dizziness were normal, James Greenwood, 42, a former Royal Marine, later found out that he only had 12 months to live. He received a terminal brain cancer diagnosis after a mass was found in his right temporal lobe and underwent surgery.
However, Greenwood's cancer wasn't obvious from the start. While he was always a healthy man, he started experiencing dull pain and headaches that began to worsen over time. While his GP originally dismissed any major concerns and attributed them to dehydration, things soon turned far more worrying.
"I was walking across town and it was like an out-of-body experience, everything around me slowed down which caused me concern," said Greenwood according to the New York Post. He thought he could be suffering from migraines, although he never had any history with them. Nevertheless, he scheduled another appointment with his GP, demanding more testing.
"As with the first GP appointment, I was pushing for a scan of some kind - maybe it was a sixth sense or something but I just knew how I felt and I was trying to get some peace of mind more than anything," said Greenwood.
An Unexpected Diagnosis
He began taking migraine medication, but it didn't work. Just two days after the appointment, he had to visit the emergency room after experiencing severe headaches. He requested a CT scan, which later revealed he had a "walnut-sized" mass in his brain.
Doctors performed surgery on him to hopefully remove the mass. However, he found out just months later that he had a grade 4 glioblastoma. He was given a 12 to 18-month prognosis since grade 4 glioblastoma is considered extremely aggressive. According to Brain Tumour Research, 25% of patients surviving more than a year, and 5% of them surviving more than five.
"Receiving the news is incredibly tough and you've got that initial period of shock but after that, you're forced to process it and try and take the good from," said Greenwood after learning about his diagnosis.
James Greenwood hopes that his radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment will improve his prognosis. In the meantime, he is trying to make the best out of whatever time he has left.
"For me, it's about trying to be as normal as possible and there's a lot of belief in people saying positivity is a big benefit in combating illnesses and I just can't comprehend in dealing with this in any other way," said Greenwood.
