A 28-year-old man from Loanhead, Midlothian, has revealed how his GP dismissed severe headaches as migraines before a scan discovered a terminal 10cm brain tumour. Scott McBride visited his doctor five times over the course of a year, only to be sent away with headache tablets.
McBride first noticed symptoms in November 2020, experiencing tingling down his right side and episodes where his hand would lock or he could not speak. Despite returning multiple times, his GP initially told him “the mind can do funny things” and later prescribed migraine medication. It was only after McBride insisted the tablets were ineffective that he was referred for a CT scan in October 2021.
The scan at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh revealed a glioblastoma, a fast-growing brain tumour, which had been putting pressure on his brain for years. McBride was told the diagnosis was terminal and he had only a few years to live. He underwent an awake craniotomy in November 2021, during which over 90% of the tumour was removed, and he has since had radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
McBride is now organising a 10km walk for Brain Tumour Research on 29 October, around Flotterstone reservoir and up Scald Law in the Pentland Hills. He said: “The brain controls your whole body and everything you do, yet so little funding is given towards researching brain tumours. More needs to be done to tackle this devastating disease.”
Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, expressed gratitude for McBride’s fundraising efforts, saying: “It’s only with the support of people like him that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours, improve options and outcomes for patients like Scott, and ultimately, find a cure.”
