Salisbury man living with a brain tumour praises impact of charities during awareness month
Gav Burden has lived with a brain tumour for nearly 30 years.
A Wiltshire man has praised the impact Brain Tumour charities have had in supporting people diagnosed with a tumour.
Gavin Burden, 50, has been living with his tumour for almost 30 years and says the support network has drastically improved - but that awareness still needs to be raised on the illness.
March is Brain Tumour Awareness Month in the UK.
While Gavin's tumour turned out to be benign, it has cost him 75% of his vision.
After being diagnosed in 1995, his world was turned upside down.
"I was so anxious, I was so vulnerable," he told Greatest Hits Radio. "I had to follow my mum's footsteps into town and things like that to learn to kind of work. Sorry, walk and just get my confidence back, which was absolutely shot to pieces."
Even though he had a brain tumour liaison nurse at Southampton General Hospital, there was very little else on offer to him in terms of support for his condition.
With no charities being set up, Gav told us he had to fend for himself.
But almost three decades on, numerous charities have been set up, including The Brain Tumour Charity, for whom Gav is aiming to raise £25k later this year by taking on the Thames Bridges Trek.
"I think the support network is phenomenal and that without that support network, you've got nothing at all," he said, adding: "Long may it continue to go from strength to strength.
He's urging us all to raise concerns to a doctor if we're suffering from symptoms.
"Just go and get it checked.
"It doesn't cost anything to tell the doctor that you've got some problems. Don't just sit there thinking, 'oh, that'll go away', because you might not have time for it to go away.
"You might need to react quite quickly once you get a kind of a symptom."
As part of the month of raised awareness, the Brain Tumour charity have written an open letter to the Health Minister, on behalf of the 34 people diagnosed with a brain tumour every day.
They're aiming to develop a cohesive Brain Tumour Strategy for the UK, saying brain tumours are still 'the forgotten disease' and that can't continue.