Families In The UK Seek Access To A Breakthrough Medicine That Slows Brain Cancers Because “These Patients Do Not Have Time.”
Two years ago, Shay Emerton was having a fantastic time while playing football for an old students’ school squad on a beautiful spring day. There were only ten minutes left in the game when his life was forever altered. The ball struck me on the side of the head when the goalie kicked to clear it, according to 26-year-old Emerton. My legs crumpled under me as I tried to flee after becoming lightheaded. I had the idea, “I’m in trouble here,” before going unconscious. The biochemistry graduate from the University of Bath experienced a seizure and suffered a respiratory arrest. Before an ambulance arrived and brought Emerton to Watford General Hospital in April 2021, he had mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from an anaesthetist who was on the opposition team during the game. Emerton underwent scans at the hospital, and when he was healing, he received some devastating news: He had a brain mass that was later identified as a grade 2 glioma, a slow-growing and incurable brain tumour , at t...