A father from Manchester who believed his numb mouth was a dental problem has shared how he received a devastating diagnosis - with just 18 months to live.
Jamie Kehoe, a 31 year old from Stretford, visited his dentist about the issue, but they couldn't identify anything wrong. The former marketing manager's symptoms quickly progressed as he started stumbling, dropping his keys and experiencing balance problems.
From dentist to doctor
After his wife Hannah spotted him repeatedly tripping over their dog, Jamie followed her advice and went to see a doctor. He said: "I remember it was a very distinct pins and needles sensation that I initially thought was a dental problem. Obviously, the dentist found nothing."
"It was only when I started to stumble out of the shower and started to drop my keys that my wife really pushed for me to see a doctor."
Diagnosis at Salford Royal
Following an examination, Jamie's GP grew worried and sent him directly to Salford Royal Hospital in 2024. A scan uncovered a mass on his brain stem, with a biopsy subsequently confirming a grade-four glioblastoma, a fast-growing malignant brain tumour.
"The initial assessment with the GP didn't leave much room for guessing. Even though the next step was a scan it was quite clear something was amiss... It all went over my head."
"I remember the overwhelming feeling I had was that everything had closed in. Like those holidays you always planned for the future were now a thing of the past," he said.
Treatment and wedding
Given an initial prognosis of roughly 12 to 18 months with treatment, Jamie's tumour was associated with a very rare genetic mutation and its location on the brain stem made surgical removal impossible.
After his diagnosis, Jamie had six weeks of radiotherapy at The Christie in Manchester. He observed that the radiotherapy 'has taken parts' of his vision and taste.
"You wake up with 20 per cent and go down from there. My cancer location being in the brain stem means it's quite physical - simple things like getting showered or going upstairs are 200pc harder," he said.
Due to his diagnosis, Jamie and Hannah moved their wedding date forward and tied the knot in November 2024, spending their honeymoon in Cornwall that winter. Jamie subsequently enrolled in a trial of a new cancer drug, which he took from March 2025 through to August this year. He managed to return to a more normal routine for approximately eight months after the initial radiotherapy reduced the tumour.
Poetry and family
Furthermore, he and Hannah went through IVF and welcomed their son Elliot, now six months old. Tragically, Jamie's symptoms came back around the time Elliot was born and a scan revealed the tumour had expanded once more.
He went through a second round of radiotherapy, which concluded in May. He recalled: "Everything I've done since the diagnosis is stuff I wanted to do. I'm not fighting my fate."
"I'm just refusing to sit around pretending it'll all be fine. Bringing the wedding forward wasn't romantic, it was a deadline."
As he battles with his speech, Jamie has embraced poetry to chronicle life with terminal brain cancer. Money raised from his first collection, I Used to Write Stories, will support brain tumour research.
Jamie said: "I wanted to do two things. First, show cancer for what it is: sloppy and cruel. Nobody tells you how undignified it is. Second, show how fragile life is, and that it doesn't end when you're told the worst possible news."
"There's texture left, if you choose to embrace it, however hard things get. Poetry suited that. It's quick, efficient and powerful, and when you're borrowing time, you don't waste it," he said.
Jamie will showcase his poetry at Stretford's Unofficial Museum on October 17 and 18.
