Dad who thought his fatigue was due to low testosterone diagnosed with brain tumour
A dad who thought his fatigue was down to low testosterone was later diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Jamie Brunt, 42, was experiencing extreme tiredness that saw him falling asleep just 20 minutes after waking up, and it wasn't until the dad-of-two crashed his van following a seizure that his case was taken seriously.
The business owner, from Derbyshire, had previously been told by GPs that his issues staying awake were down to low testosterone and a poor diet, but a CT scan after his crash revealed it to be something far worse.
Jamie had a glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer that saw him given just seven months to live.
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He said: "I just couldn’t stay awake. I would sleep all night, wake up, have a coffee and a cigarette, and then I would be asleep again within about 20 minutes.
"It felt like I had weights clipped to my eyelids. I had never experienced anything like it before.
"They did blood tests and told me everything was fine. A dietitian rang me and said it was probably my diet. After that, there was no follow-up and it was just forgotten about."
It was only after his 2022 crash that Jamie discovered the true cause of his fatigue, although a surgeon recommended that he undergo immediate surgery to remove the tumour.
Although his craniotomy was successful, it left Jamie relearning how to walk and talk. He had 30 sessions of radiotherapy in October and November 2023 to go through, followed by six cycles of chemotherapy tablets, which finally finished in summer 2024.
While a November 2025 scan was promising and showed no sign of the cancer cells, glioblastoma nearly always recurs and treatment options would be limited if and when it does, which has left the father-of-two reevaluating his approach to life.
He said: "One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was telling my daughters, Millie and Rosie.
"Trying to explain to them that I was going to die was awful. I hadn’t always been around as much as I should have been, and I was trying to rebuild those relationships while facing the idea that my time was limited.
"I knew I needed more time for them."
Jamie is now taking each day as it comes, while also aiming to raise money to help support the new Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Nottingham by walking 10,000 steps each day in February.
He went on to say: "It’s strange hearing good news when you’ve spent so long preparing yourself to die.
"I still prepare for the worst every time the phone rings but physically, I feel good. Emotionally, I have lost a bit of the fizz for life I used to have even though I know how lucky I am.
"Glioblastoma doesn’t usually give people this much time."
You can support Jamie's fundraising challenge here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
James Moorhouse