Kevin Fisher, a self-employed builder and father-of-two from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, was diagnosed with a grade 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma in September 2019 after discovering he had lost left-side peripheral vision in both eyes. The 44-year-old underwent a debulking surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and is now self-funding private treatment abroad.
Kevin tells his story …
I started feeling weird whilst on a family holiday in Spain in August 2019 but I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. I’d driven us there and I also drove us home but I soon became disorientated and started noticing problems with my vision. I remember being in my kitchen not long after getting back and holding my hands up in front of my face and not being able to see my left hand. That’s when my wife, Kate, told me she thought I should go to the doctor’s to get checked out.
“My GP referred me for an eye test at Ashford Hospital, Surrey, and, although I was found to have 20:20 vision, they discovered I had no left-side peripheral vision in either eye.”
A doctor came to see me and seemed to think I could be having a mild stroke, but the CT scan he ordered showed something else. I was sent to St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, where I was told they’d found some large grey matter on the back of my brain and needed to do more tests to determine what it was. After spending a night there, I was transferred to St George's Hospital, London, and given the news I had a brain tumour.
“Within a week, I had undergone surgery and been told I had brain cancer, which was a complete shock because I didn’t know how aggressive my tumour was before then.”
I recovered from my eight-hour op reasonably quickly and was discharged about five days later. A biopsy of my tumour revealed it was a grade 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma and before long I was having six weeks of radiotherapy and five months of procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy. I was meant to stay on PCV for 12 months but my tumour started to progress, so I was taken off that and put on temozolomide (TMZ) for a further 12 months.
“Having had all the standard treatment available on the NHS and been made to understand at some point my tumour would return, I decided not to wait for the inevitable to happen.”
I wanted to be proactive and find out what else was out there, which is how I came cross CeGaT, a gene analysis company in Germany. I arranged for a sample of my tumour to be sent there for DNA sequencing to find out if anything it offered could help me. I was really pleased to learn I was eligible for its personalised peptide vaccines, which are designed to recognise a person’s cancer cells and produce a desired immune response. It’s extremely costly so, to help fund it, towards the end of 2022 I embarked on a sponsored 1,000km bike ride from Surrey to Germany to begin the treatment.
“At first, I was going over to Germany every month, then every two months and now it looks like my 14th vaccine, which is my last one, could be held for around nine months, so it can be used as a booster.”
The vaccines are administered through four injections simultaneously but I was forced to reduce these later in my treatment because of reactions I was having to two of the drugs. Despite that, I’ve had a promising immune response and am due to have more bloods taken in six months’ time to see what, if anything, has changed. In the meantime, I’m continuing to have monitoring scans every three months.
“I know that research is the key to making a difference for brain tumour patients, which is why I support Brain Tumour Research.”
I established my brand, Resilience Bikes and Brains, about 18 months ago and am now selling the caps, beanies, t-shirts and cycling jerseys that make up my collection online, with 10% of my profits going to the charity. I have a few more fundraisers in mind and hope to be able to raise enough to sponsor at least a day of research at one of the Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence. Watch this space.
Kevin Fisher
March 2024
Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age. What’s more, they kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer... yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002.
Brain Tumour Research is determined to change this.
If you have been inspired by Kevin’s story you may like to make a donation via www.braintumourresearch.org/donate or leave a gift in your will via www.braintumourresearch.org/legacy
Together we will find a cure