Get the biggest stories sent straight to your inbox Sign up for regular updates and breaking news from WalesOnline Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A man who thought he was suffering from vertigo found out he had a potentially life threatening brain tumour after reading about similar experiences on Facebook – and now he wants to share his experience to help others too.

Tom Walker was initially diagnosed with having vertigo, after experiencing dizzy spells and headaches.

But the 36-year-old, who lives in Ystrad Mynach , discovered his condition was a lot more serious after reading posts from Facebook friends who had been diagnosed with brain tumours and realising his symptoms were the same.

Collapsed in front of kids

The father-of-two said: “It started when I was in work and I started to feel really light headed when I got up, especially when I looked up and down and side to side.

“I thought it might have had something to do with my blood pressure.

“A little while later, I was at home putting the kids to bed and started to feel quite unwell again.

“I put some music on for the boys - they love listening to the body rockers, and my son said ‘shake your head daddy’, so I shook it and I collapsed onto the bed.

“My wife was out at the time which was frightening. So at that point I knew I had to go and see the doctor.

“The doctor examined me and diagnosed me with an infection, which was basically like having vertigo.

“I went along with that diagnosis for a while and took the medication I was prescribed, but it just wasn’t going away.”

Tom said the turning point came after he returned home from a New Years Eve trip to Euro Disney and started suffering from mood swings and headaches.

'Something just twigged'

“When we got back from Disney, I was lying awake in the middle of the night after suffering from a headache, and I remember reading something on Facebook.

“A friend of mine’s four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with having a brain tumour and he posted a bit of information about her symptoms on his page.

“I also read about a colleague who had a brain tumour and posted about it on Facebook too.

“And then something just twigged.

Heartwarming moment boy rings a bell to mark end of treatment:

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“After reading about their symptoms, it made me think that maybe there was more to my headaches than I initially thought.

“There I was lying in awake in the middle of the night with a headache, thinking that I might actually have a brain tumour.

“I went straight back to the doctors and asked them to refer me for a scan.”

6cm oblong shaped tumour

After initially diagnosing him with vertigo, Tom’s private neurologist later found swollen disks in his eyes – which is usually a sign of pressure on the brain.

He was sent for another scan, before being told he had a 6cm oblong shaped tumour growing on a fluid cavity at the back of his brain.

“The technicians phoned me at around 8.30pm on a Friday night, asking me to come in on Saturday morning – so I knew it wasn’t good news,” he said.

“My wife and I went to the clinic and the consultant broke the news to us – telling me I’d need to have an operation to have the tumour removed.”

Two weeks after being told he had a brain tumour, Tom went into theatre at the Heath Hospital to have it removed.

“The surgeon cut down the back of my neck, went in through the back of my skull and removed the tumour from my brain,” he said.

“I was made aware of the risks before going into theatre – the tumour was lightly attached to my brain stem, which transfers messages to the rest of the body. If that was damaged then everything else would stop working.”

Facebook campaign

Tom’s tumour was successfully removed, but he still had to undergo a precautionary six week course of radiotherapy at Velindre Hospital.

A recent follow up scan showed no sign of the tumour returning, but Tom has been warned there is still a possibility that it may return, so it will be closely monitored with regular scans.

He has now posted about his own experience on Facebook, in the hope that other people with similar symptoms will go to the doctors to get checked.

“If it hadn’t been for others posting about similar experiences on Facebook I wouldn’t have pushed for a scan, and may not be here today,” he said.

“My post has had a real positive reaction – I was shocked how many people commented on it and shared it. One person even commented saying they had been having some similar symptoms and would go and get checked.

“If talking about it means that I can help others, then it really is worthwhile doing.

“If you or any of your loved ones are putting off going to the doctors for any reason - don’t! The sooner these things are found the better the chances are of beating it.

“I consider myself to be extremely lucky.”