When British Paralympian David Smith (47) he began to experience blurred vision, fatigue and irritabilityattributed these symptoms to the amount of time spent watching television while recovering from a rib injury. He thought that glasses were enough and that his fatigue was a natural part of recovery. However, after returning from a vacation in Jamaica, his loved ones noticed that he begins to withdraw into himself, became sullen and withdrawn, and his thinking was no longer as clear as beforeinforms
His change in behavior was so significant that those closest to him convinced him to visit a hospital in Chelseawhere emergency A CT scan revealed three brain tumors. He immediately underwent a 6-hour surgery to remove it a tumor the size of an orange. He later had to undergo another life-saving procedure procedure for fluid accumulation in the brain. The doctors confirmed that the tumors were benign, well he is undergoing radiotherapy to shrink the remaining two.
David described that it wasn’t until he returned from Jamaica that his body really began to deteriorate. On October 9, he became very ill in London, and he himself hardly remembers this period. He says that he was very lucky to have his family with himwho noticed that something was seriously wrong with him and took him to the hospital. “It wasn’t me. I was impulsive, frustrated. The tumor invaded the space where logic and emotion meet, so that inner voice that whispers to you when you’re walking down a dark alley that it’s not safe just disappeared.” explained his difficulties.
He still doesn’t understand how he could fly home from Jamaica with something like that on his mind, or does he he could die at any momenteven while playing golf in Aviemore. “I started to feel that I was losing control of my life,” he remembered. After the procedure, he suffered short-term memory loss and speech problems as the tumor spread to his frontal lobe, the area responsible for personality, emotions and logical reasoning.
He is very well aware that he will spend the rest of his life undergoing check-ups, radiotherapy and may undergo further operations. He stayed in the hospital for eight days and returned home to his wife Angela on October 16. He recalls that the first few days were a blur, he couldn’t make decisions, he didn’t understand what was going on and he was exhausted, but surrounded by loving people who held him. “Recovery was tough and the nights even longer, but I have never felt more grateful to be alive,” he confessed.
After a week at home, he managed his first walk. “It’s hard for me because I know how I’m going to die. My brain tumor keeps coming back.” he says. He is in stage 2 and after 15 years of fighting he knows his journey is not over. “When you’re diagnosed with it, there’s no strategy to manage it. They might give you time or show you research, but there’s no therapy or help. I have great friends and family, but I don’t want them to be my caregivers, that’s what therapists are for. I want to enjoy the time I have with them,” he clarified.
“Even my morning coffee tastes different. I know I’m alive and I know I’d die if it weren’t for doctors. You just have to change your perspective, appreciate the time I have left and really see the beauty of life.” he added.
David has been fighting a tumor on his spine since 2010. He was diagnosed solid fibrous tumor, a rare type of benign growth that affects soft tissue. But it turned out to have spread, with tumor cells entering the blood and traveling to the brain. He started experiencing blurred vision, fatigue and headaches in August 2025, but ignored them until his family convinced him to see a doctor in October.
