Dad Dies of Brain Cancer After Doc Said He Was ‘Faking’

A father died of inoperable brain cancer after doctors said his headaches were “stress-related” — and even accused him of “faking” his symptoms. Now, his daughter is raising money for brain cancer research in his name.

Stephen Blakeston began experiencing severe headaches and problems with his speech in October 2010, his daughter, Hollie Rhodes, tells South West News Service via MSN.

“Mum called me saying he was jumbling up his sentences and not making any sense,” Rhodes, now 37, said of her father, who hails from the English port city of Hull.

“He also had a massive headache and was really distressed, which wasn’t like him at all. I couldn’t believe it when we visited the GP, who dismissed his symptoms as stress-related and even said he was faking, something I know my dad wouldn’t do,” she recalled.

When Blakeston — a father of two and grandfather — was referred for a CT scan, the test showed “a tumor growing on the left side of his brain, affecting his speech,” Rhodes said.

Although he quickly underwent surgery to remove the tumor, a biopsy confirmed it was “incurable and cancerous,” she said.

It was a high-grade glioblastoma — “one of the most complex, deadly, and treatment-resistant cancers,” the National Brain Tumor Society explains. Blakeston underwent radiation and chemotherapy, and while scans showed no signs that the tumor had returned, Rhodes said in July 2011 — shortly after finishing treatment — her father collapsed at home.

“We called an ambulance but unfortunately paramedics couldn’t save him, and they told us after about 20 minutes of fighting that he didn’t make it, and he died on [my sister’s] bedroom floor. It was so traumatic and unexpected.”

The cause, she says, was a blood clot in his heart, but they’re unsure of it was related to his cancer or the treatment. 

Rhodes is now running the London Marathon in an effort to raise money for brain tumor research, as she’s since known others — including her friend’s newborn — who have been diagnosed with brain tumors.

While “running is not my forte,” she says, “I’ll be thinking of my dad and how he never got to meet some of his grandchildren, who he would have adored, with Blake, my eldest, named after him. Remembering his struggles and how a cure could have kept him with us gives me the strength to keep going.”

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