My bad hangover after Cheltenham races turned out to be brain tumours that docs say were growing for 20 years

WHEN George Wade started getting a headache and noticed some gaps in his memory on his way home from a boozy day at the Cheltenham races he thought nothing of it.

It wasn’t until a month later, in April 2024, when the left side of the fitness fanatic’s body became weak and his face began drooping, that he sought help.

Marathon runner George Wade thought his headaches were the sign of a hangover[/caption]

He was later diagnosed with two brain tumours – one being the size of a tennis ball[/caption]

A precautionary MRI scan revealed two brain tumours that had been growing for 20 years.

“I honestly felt helpless and that I was done for,” the 42-year-old marathon runner, from North Yorkshire, said.

George, an auction software engineer by trade, had put his initial symptoms of a bad headache, memory loss and feeling a bit sick down to a hangover.

So convinced of his own diagnosis, he continued as normal, even going on a skiing trip to Austria two weeks later and showing no symptoms.

But on April 14, George suffered stroke-like symptoms after struggling to pick up a fork and dropping it on the floor before his wife Ellie noticed the left side of his face drooping.

Ellie then called her brother, Dr Caspar Wood, a GP, who arranged for George to have a blood and eye test – both of which came back clear.

But to “be on the safe side” the medic also booked George in for an MRI on April 18.

“He [Casper] said it was just precaution and they most likely wouldn’t find anything,” George explained.

But after completing the scan George remembers seeing the “body language” of the nurses change and he was told a consultant would be coming to see him.

Whilst waiting for the results, George said he had accepted that he may have a brain tumour.

” I was told I have two brain tumours – a large one on the right side of my head which was described as the size of a tennis ball and another smaller one the size of a squash ball in the middle,” he said.

“I was later told the bigger one might have been growing for 20 years and only now it has gotten so big it was pushing my brain and causing symptoms.”

George was first sent to Northallerton Hospital, North Yorkshire, where he was given steroid pills to try and reduce the size of the tumours.

Following a biopsy surgery in early May he was diagnosed with two grade 2 astrocytoma tumours.

Astrocytomas are a common type of brain tumours in both adults and children and develop from cells called astrocytes, according to Cancer Research UK.

Then in early June George travelled down to London to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery where he underwent a eight-hour debulking surgery which removed 95 per cent of his large brain tumour.

The 42-year-old post-surgery[/caption]

No surgery was done on his smaller tumour.

Following the surgery George was determined to get back on his feet and began walking just two days after and went for his first run after a month.

After further testing, his larger tumour was diagnosed to stage four – fast growing and aggressive – due to a mutation – yet he currently told it is acting like a stage two which is slow growing.

Then a month later in July he started six months of chemotherapy in pill form until December which further reduced the size of his tumours.

George said: “The chemotherapy pills were big doses for five days each month and then a rest.

“Luckily I wasn’t too ill with it until the last set of pills as the effects mount up month by month which is why I felt worse at the end.

“Though when I first starting taking them the skin on my hands starting peeling off which was a strange side effect.”

‘It could have been a lot worse’

George has since undergone three plastic surgeries on his skull to remove a skin infection which was discovered in August following the debulking surgery.

He has had six surgeries on his skull and brain in the last 14 months.

He also requires MRI scans every three months to check and monitor for growth.

“I was lucky that I had a MRI scan as frustrating as it is that I have these brain tumours at least I know and we caught them when we did as it could have been a lot worse,” George said.

“In many ways I feel fitter and healthier than I have ever been after what’s happened.

“A nutritionist put me on a special diet, and I lost a lot of weight.

“My brother-in-law is a GP and said there is nothing wrong with your heart, so get running again.”

The runner has already raised almost £50,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity and the National Brain Appeal when running the London Marathon in a personal best of 3 hours and 16 minutes earlier this year.

George is aiming to raise £100,000 by the end of the year[/caption]

But now he is continuing his fundraising journey, looking to reach a total of £100,000 by the end of this year with The Gavel Trail and Auction.

He is leading it through the Bidpath Foundation that was setup by George’s employers following his diagnosis alongside international arts trail creators Wild In Art.

Auctioneers from across the UK and even overseas – many of whom know George well – are sponsoring the fundraiser by commissioning an artist to design and decorate a blank gavel and block.

Each auction house will display its gavel throughout September and October, creating an art trail.

An auction will take place in the Surveyors House at RICS Westminster, London. Pre-bidding online is open.

George said: “I am looking forward to visiting many of the gavels at auction houses and I am particularly looking forward to visiting Halls auctioneers as they were the first auction house I worked for.