Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn has revealed he was told he had a migraine before his "devastating" brain cancer diagnosis. The Commonwealth Games star, now 25, was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma when he was 22 and is set to meet Andy Burnham on Wednesday after an emotional appeal on BBC Breakfast for more action on brain tumours.
Seizures dismissed as migraine
Archie first suffered a seizure in December 2023 after a training session in the pool. He was rushed to A&E but was discharged and told it was likely a migraine or epilepsy. As seizures became more frequent, he made repeated visits to doctors but said he "clearly wasn't hitting the right 'buzz words' to describe my symptoms and trigger an MRI scan".
While training for the 2024 Olympic try-outs, he "bit the bullet" and paid for a private MRI scan, which revealed a grade 2 oligodendroglioma - a rare brain tumour that develops from glial cells called oligodendrocytes.
'Devastating' diagnosis and treatment
Archie told charity Brain Tumour Research: "I just couldn't believe I had cancer. It made no sense. Being told you have incurable cancer and have 10 to 12 years to live is devastating. Being told you have incurable cancer and have 10 to 12 years to live and there's nothing you can do about it is even more of a blow."
He said he was put on a "watch and wait" care pathway because current treatments - chemotherapy and radiotherapy - would have "too many devastating side-effects". Archie, from Edinburgh, studied brain tumours as part of his masters degree and tracked down a treatment called vorasidenib, which a medic at the Royal Marsden in London got him through a managed access programme.
Call for national brain cancer lead
Archie started taking the drug last summer and described it as "transformational", but warned that if vorasidenib fails, there is "no 'plan B' or 'next' line of treatment" in this country. He said: "I could deal with it better if I knew that across the world people stood the same chance, but that isn't true – patients with my tumour type in the US have access to other drugs such as safusidenib and ivosidenib."
He called for the Prime Minister to establish a national brain cancer lead, describing trials around the world not being seen in the UK as "unfair and unjust". Archie said he is "hopeful" for his meeting with Burnham as a "unique opportunity for change", adding: "I have spoken to so many people and we all have the same message: We cannot accept the status quo in the system, we cannot be risk-averse. People are dying."
