‘You never think that something like this will happen to you, it’s your worst nightmare’

A STAMULLEN man has opened up about how he was given a devastating diagnosis after headaches turned out to be a life threatening brain tumour.

Last September Barry Barrable began suffering from headaches initially not thinking it was as serious as it would later be discovered.

After attending his GP, the car salesman was given a course of antibiotics for a suspected ear infection but when the headaches persisted into the new year, Barry was sent for a scan that revealed some worrying results.

Just a few days later the Stamullen man was undergoing major surgery by the Neuro team at Beaumont Hospital where a 5cm Glioblastoma Brain Tumor was found in his right Temporal Lobe.

Despite being told there was a chance he would not survive the procedure Barry came out of the gruelling five-hour surgery where medics removed 80 percent of the tumour.

He went on to have concurrent Radiation and Chemotherapy to battle the rare and aggressive form of cancer and although doctors are happy with his progress, he is not out of the woods yet.

With little research in Ireland into tumours he is fundraising should he need to get more advanced treatment abroad, with any unused funds going to Brain Tumor Ireland.

"One day I was on my way to work to sell cars and within a few days I was on a theatre table having major brain surgery to remove a 5cm tumour,” he said.

“You’ll never think something like this will happen to you, it’s your worst nightmare.”

Barry explains how an apparent simple headache turned into a horrific diagnosis.

“Last September I was complaining of a migraine headache just to the right hand side of my head, I went to the GP and he put me on antibiotics, it didn’t clear it up and a couple of days into January he said Barry I’d like to send you for a quick scan just to make sure everything is clear.

“On the 16th January I was on my way into work and the GP rang me and told me he had my scan results and told me go straight to Beaumont and that he was typing up a letter to see the top neurosurgeon.

“I went into Beaumont and met the neurosurgeon Donnacha O’Brien and he said 'Barry, I am going to have to speak to your wife on Monday morning because you are going to have to undergo a serious operation where one you could have a stroke or two you could die', a tumour in the brain never even came into my vocabulary in all of my life, it was a shock to the system."

“He met my wife Niamh on Monday morning and on Wednesday I had brain surgery, he cut into the skull and removed 80 percent of the tumour.”

Taking some humour from a difficult situation Barry remembers a poignant moment prior to the life or death procedure.

“I remember being in the operating theatre and the surgeon had this instrument in his hand with a little wheel at the end of it (the saw) and I said to him what are you going to do with that?"

Thankfully the former aviation professional recovered well from the operation and is preparing to battle on.

“For the last three months I have been on radiation and chemo tablets and the consultant was happy with my latest scan and I’m due to have another one in a couple of weeks which will give a clearer picture.

“It is work in progress I am attacking it and we are looking for a couple of option outside of Ireland if needs be. We set up the GoFundMe Page to have a plan B.

“Through lots of our own research we believe we need to go forward with a multi-pronged approach, including Chronic Illness Nutrition, Oncology Clinic using re-purposed drug protocol, medical CBD, Immunotherapy and Clinical Trials.

There is little or none on the tumour side of research in Ireland apart from the brain bank in Dublin that is a collaboration between the Neuropathology Department of Beaumont Hospital and RCSI.

“They store tumours and preserve them in case there needs to be biopsies done on them.

“We are also probably going to go ahead and get the tumour tissue sent to the Marsden Hospital Group, a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London.

“I’m going to fight this all of the way.”

“I have a great support network behind me which is incredible. My wife is amazing and has been my right hand woman as well as my nurse.

“I worked in Ryanair for 20 years and there are people coming out of the woodwork that I haven’t spoken to in ten years who are making donations. Windsor Motors in Dublin where I work have been so good to me and I am chomping at the bit to get back to work.”