Dad has months to live after ‘ear infection’ was actually a tumour

A man who was rushed to hospital with a supposed ‘ear infection’ caused by an insect bite has been given just months to live.

Dave Whitford, from Sheffield, had been struggling with his balance, feeling dizzy and nauseous.

Doctors initially diagnosed him with an ‘inner ear infection’, but his life changed forever after a scan revealed a mass on his brain.

The mass was monitored for two years. But as it began to grow, they decided to remove it, which revealed the mass was actually an incurable brain tumour.

The 49-year-old was left devastated when he was given a year to 18 months left to live.

‘When they removed it, it took them a month to find out how bad it actually was,’ the dad-of-one said.

‘They thought it was a grade-two tumour to start with, but it got examined and it came back as a grade four which is the worst one.

‘I’ve got 12 to 18 months to live but I might live longer, I just don’t know. When I found out, I just cried as I was just devastated.’

With his 50th birthday only a few months away, Dave had an early party with 60 of his family and friends attending ‘in case he does not make it’.

Alongside having the mass removed, he has had chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

But because he has had so much treatment and part of his brain is removed, he is now suffering from debilitating side affects such as short-term memory loss and low energy.

Dave said: ‘I have no energy and I get cold really easily so I have to have special sheets to warm me up.

‘They operated on the left side, so I have ringing in my ear which is quite annoying, especially when I’m trying to get to sleep.

‘It does affect people differently and it’s affected my short term memory so I forget a lot of things.’

Dave worked as a bus driver, but he had his driving licence taken off him as a result of the diagnosis.

He has been doing various odd-jobs for people to support himself over the last three years.

But he has now had to stop due to the severity of his symptoms.

Dave has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with expenses while he is unable to work.

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