Ben Cornforth was experiencing a severe headache on a Friday night. At the time, he was 21 years old and living in a university flat in Nottingham. He believed the cause of his discomfort was the excessive amount of beer he had consumed the previous night. He was relaxing in front of the TV when he noticed that he could no longer follow what was happening on the screen or speak clearly.
“I felt completely out of it and dizzy. When I went to the toilet, the room seemed to be spinning, and I fell over,” Ben, now 24, explained. “I was living with my girlfriend at the time, so I told her, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, but I can’t talk.’”
Initially, Ben tried to hide his symptoms, thinking they were just the result of an extreme hangover. However, his condition worsened, leading to a hospital visit where he was kept overnight. What he thought was a terrible hangover turned out to be something more serious.
Ben shared: “When we were called into a room, I was told there was something on my brain that wasn’t supposed to be there. The doctors suspected it was a cyst, so I called my parents so they could travel up to Nottingham. It was really difficult having to call my mum to tell her what had happened.”
A few days later, Ben underwent an MRI scan that revealed a benign tumour that doctors believed he had had for most of his life. He was prescribed anti-seizure medication and discharged. However, after experiencing two more seizures, he was admitted again.
A follow-up scan showed activity in the tumour, which meant Ben needed major surgery. In May 2023, he underwent a six-hour craniotomy. During the procedure, a portion of his skull was temporarily removed to access his brain, and he remained awake throughout the operation.
Ben described the experience: “They said they’d take as much of the tumour as possible, but they couldn’t take anything off my brain, so they got as close to the brain as they could. They would prod a piece of the tumour with the logic that if I stopped talking, they couldn’t cut that. They explained they’d do a biopsy on it afterwards.”
The biopsy results confirmed that Ben had stage 4 brain cancer. His treatment included six weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, followed by a year of daily chemotherapy tablets. According to Ben, he is not yet out of the woods.
He said: “My entire process through treatment and recovery was to always have things as normal as possible. I know I’ll need more treatment in the future, but for now, I am off treatment and feeling happy and healthy. I try to make the most of every day.”
Since his recovery, Ben has joined the Teenage Cancer Trust’s Youth Advisory Group, helping to shape the support provided to young people. He also recently completed the London Marathon, raising over £10,000 for the charity that supported him during and after treatment.
To donate to Ben’s fundraising page, click here.
