Cruel twist of fate sees father and son struck by brain tumours

Jamie Manton’s fundraising mission comes a year after his father Stephen sudden death.

The Sheffield Hallam nursing student had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was awaiting surgery when his father was taken ill and died. Jamie, 26, is now fundraising for the Brain Tumour Research charity by taking on the Sheffield 10k on September 23, the Birmingham Half Marathon on October 14, and the Sheffield Half Marathon in April 2019.

He was diagnosed with a low-grade meningioma at the age of 25, and it was while he was undergoing treatment that his father began suffering from the same numbness that he had experienced before his diagnosis.

Stephen, a civil servant from Sheffield, was sent for an MRI scan and when the results came back unclear, he underwent a biopsy at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. A high-grade glioma was found in his brain but before he could hear discover the results, the 64-year-old suffered from a post-operative brain haemorrhage and sadly died five days later. Within a week, Jamie had to return to Royal Hallamshire for surgeons to operate on his own brain tumour.

Jamie said: “My family and I are still reeling from what happened. There’s no hereditary link between my diagnosis and my dad’s – we were just extremely unfortunate and lightning struck twice. It was heart-breaking.

“Although I’m back to full health now and rebuilding my life, it’s important to me to help prevent others suffering like we have.”

Community fundraising manager for Brain Tumour Research, Matthew Price, said: “It’s dreadful that the Manton family have not only experienced a brain tumour diagnosis twice, but have also lost Stephen to the disease. Stories like this remind us that we cannot allow this desperate situation to continue.”