Sheffield bus driver Dave Whitford’s ‘ear infection’ turned out to be deadly brain tumour

But now he has discovered he has only months left to live after his dizziness was actually being caused by a brain tumour.

Dave Whitford, aged 49, from Parson Cross, first became concerned when he was sitting in his garden and suddenly became extremely dizzy and started being sick.

He was taken to the hospital the following day, where doctors diagnosed an inner ear infection that they thought had been caused by a tiny insect bite. But former bus driver Dave was still feeling sick and was struggling to balance, so doctors performed a scan on his head which revealed he had a small mass on his brain.

The mass was monitored for two years and as it began to grow, doctors decided to remove it, which revealed the mass was actually an incurable brain tumour. And Dave was left devastated when he was told he has just around a year to 18 months left to live.

‘I was just devastated’

He said: “When they removed it, it took them a month to find out how bad it actually was. They thought it might have been a grade two tumour to start with but it got examined and it came back as a grade four which is the worst one. I've got 12 to 18 months to live but I might live longer, I just don't know. When I found out, I just cried as I was just devastated."

The dad-of-one said he would love to tour America and even had an early 50th birthday party in case he doesn't reach the milestone.

Dave said: “My 50th birthday is this May so I had a birthday party last year in case I don't make it to being 50. So I invited around 60 people round including all of my family and friends to just celebrate.”

Side effects of cancer treatment

Alongside having the mass removed, Dave has also had chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But because he's had so much treatment and part of his brain removed, he's now suffering from debilitating side effects such as short-term memory loss and low energy.

He said: “I have no energy and I get cold really easily so I have to have special sheets to warm me up. They operated on the left side, so I have ringing in my ear which is quite annoying, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep. It does affect people differently and it's affected my short term memory so I forget a lot of things.”

Dave worked as a bus driver until he got ill. He had his driving licence taken off him as soon as he was diagnosed with the mass on his brain. He has been able to work in various roles doing odd-jobs for people over the last three years but now due to the severity of his symptoms, he's had to stop working.

Dave has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with expenses while he is unable to work. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/grade-4-brain-tumour-trying-to-live-on to donate.