Jason Breward, 54, from Cambridgeshire, began noticing bald patches on his head and face in 2020 and was told by doctors he had alopecia. After a head MRI in January 2024, he was diagnosed with a benign 4.6cm tumour pressing on his brain's pituitary gland, which doctors estimated had been growing for eight years.
Misdiagnosis and a move to Spain
Jason noticed at least two bald spots and went to see a dermatologist, where he was misdiagnosed with alopecia. For years he received treatment for the wrong diagnosis while living in South Africa, experiencing two years of slowly losing hair in patches.
In early 2022, Jason had a feeling that the answers for his health problems lay in Spain, so he and his family moved from South Africa to Alicante, Spain. "It was a strange sensation, but I knew I wasn't getting the answers I needed with my doctors in South Africa," Jason said. "We pulled our son, Ashton, out of school, sold the house and moved all our belongings, including a car, from South Africa to Alicante, Spain."
Emergency MRI and surgery
After just under two years in Spain attending more dermatologist appointments, Jason woke up one morning with a painful headache. Speaking to Sell Us Your Story, Jason said: "In January 2024, I woke up at 5am with a splitting headache and was rushed to the emergency room. Someone finally did a head MRI on me."
For a week, Jason was in hospital when they spotted the tumour, and because of where it was sitting, Jason was at risk of going blind. Marianne said: "Jason was in and out of it at this point, and when he was conscious, he was in a lot of pain. On the fourth day, I was told he had a tumour, and I was in total shock. The next day he went cross-eyed and they decided they needed to operate."
Recovery and a fresh start
Jason underwent surgery to remove the tumour in February 2024, but the procedure went awry. He said: "A three-hour surgery turned into a seven-and-a-half-hour affair. I think the doctor accidentally cut an artery near my brain, so I lost a lot of blood, and they damaged the gland the tumour was sitting on. They told Marianne they nearly lost me at one point. I woke up cross-eyed with no short-term memory."
After spending a week in the ICU, Jason went home where Marianne became his full-time carer. In March 2025, Marianne moved the family to England, where they now reside in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire. Just three months after starting treatment in the UK, Jason began to feel better, and six months after moving, his quality of life improved massively.
Jason is now focused on launching his new AI systems, which are mainly education-based and provide students with relevant reading materials instead of direct answers. He said: "I can't go back to what I'd been doing for years because my brain and body are fried from what I've been through. I'm hoping this can be a fresh start."
