A dad who was rushed to hospital with an ear infection has been told he has just months to live after it turned out to be a terminal brain tumour. Dave Whitford, 49, first realised something was off when he was sat in his garden and suddenly became extremely dizzy and started vomiting.
The next day he was rushed to the hospital, where doctors told him he was suffering from an inner ear infection that had been caused by a tiny insect bite. But Dave was still feeling sick and was struggling to balance, so medics performed a scan on his head which revealed he had a small mass on his brain.
The mass was monitored for two years and, as it began to grow, doctors decided to remove it, which revealed the mass was actually an incurable brain tumour. And Dave was left devastated when he was told he has just around a year to 18 months left to live.
He said: "When they removed it, it took them a month to find out how bad it actually was. They thought it might have been a grade two tumour to start with, but it got examined and it came back as a grade four, which is the worst one.
"I've got 12 to 18 months to live but I might live longer, I just don't know. When I found out, I just cried, as I was just devastated."
The dad-of-one said he would love to tour America and even had an early 50th birthday party in case he doesn't reach the milestone.
Dave, of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: "My 50th birthday is this May so I had a birthday party last year in case I don't make it to being 50. So I invited around 60 people round, including all of my family and friends, to just celebrate."
Alongside having the mass removed Dave has also had chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But because he's had so much treatment and part of his brain removed, he's now suffering from debilitating side affects, such as short-term memory loss and low energy.
He said: "I have no energy and I get cold really easily, so I have to have special sheets to warm me up. They operated on the left side, so I have ringing in my ear which is quite annoying, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep. It does affect people differently and it's affected my short term memory so I forget a lot of things."
Dave worked as a bus driver until he got ill. He had his driving licence taken off him as soon as he was diagnosed with the mass on his brain. He has been able to work in various roles doing odd-jobs for people over the last three years, but now due to the severity of his symptoms he's had to stop working.
Dave has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with expenses while he is unable to work.
