South Yorkshire woman who lost her dad and husband to brain tumours takes on fundraising challenge

A South Yorkshire woman who lost her father and husband to brain tumours, just seven months apart, is taking on a walking challenge to help find a cure for the disease.

Sue Meehan was left screaming in terror when her husband Adrian, known as Adie, experienced uncontrollable facial spasms caused by an undiagnosed brain tumour. He died five months later, in August 2015, aged 45.

Her father, Malcolm Kirk, who went by Malc, died the following March, aged 65. A routine check to fit a hearing aid led to him being diagnosed just three months before his death.

Sue, 47, said: “My dad and Adie were lovely men who were best friends. I wouldn’t wish what happened to them on anyone. It was so hard to deal with what happened to Adie, everything happened so quickly, and everything changed in the blink of an eye. 

On March 15, 2015, Adie, from Balby in Doncaster, felt unwell after a day at work delivering cars and went straight to be when he arrived home.

Sue said: “I heard an almighty commotion upstairs; when he came downstairs, every muscle in his face lost control and his whole face was twitching. I started screaming and he collapsed. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Adie was taken by ambulance to Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI) where a scan revealed ‘problems’ on his brain. He was transported to The Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield where further tests and scans revealed he had Stage 4 lung cancer and two metastatic secondary brain tumours.

Sue said: “Before then, Adie had no symptoms at all. I thought as long as he doesn’t die, we can cope with anything, but it wasn’t to be. We were told they couldn’t operate because the tumours were too deep in his brain. The only treatment he had was three weeks of radiotherapy at Weston Park Cancer Centre in Sheffield, along with chemotherapy for the lung cancer, but it was the brain tumours which caused us problems. You would never have known he had lung cancer.”

Adie suffered two more seizures before he died from a pulmonary embolism on August 13, 2015.

Malc was given six months to live in December 2015 when a brain scan to fit him a hearing age detected a brain tumour.

Sue said: “I thought ‘here we go again’ and I had to put my grief on hold so I could be strong for dad, mum and my sister.

“When dad was diagnosed, it was really hard to get my head around it, and it was really hard for dad who was also grieving for Adie.”

Malc spent two weeks at St Mary’s Nursing Home in Doncaster before he died on March 15, 2016.

This month, Sue has been putting her best foot forward by taking part in 10,000 Steps a Day in August for the charity Brain Tumour Research.

Sue said: "I’m doing the challenge to raise vital funds to research this devastating disease. Adie and dad’s deaths can’t have been for nothing; I’m doing it for them, and I think they would be really proud of me."

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.

Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “It’s only with the support of people like her that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours and improve the outcome for patients like Adie and Malc who are forced to fight this awful disease.”

Brain Tumour Research campaigns for the government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours, to speed up new treatments for patients and find a cure. 

The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million, aiming to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.