Worker who collapsed on first day of the job given devastating diagnosis

Cameron Walker, 26, was rushed to hospital after suffering a seizure during a tour of the factory floor in February 2022 after relocating to a new part of the country to start a new job

An engineer's first day at a new job turned into a shocking health discovery when he collapsed on his first day, leading to the diagnosis of a brain tumour.

Cameron Walker, 26, had recently moved from Bradford, West Yorkshire, to Nuneaton, Warwickshire, for a position with HelloFresh, but a seizure on the factory floor sent him straight to the hospital in February 2022. Despite never experiencing symptoms before, the incident revealed a long-standing brain tumour that doctors feared to remove due to the risk of paralysis.

In a heartfelt blog post for The Brain Tumour Charity, Cameron shared his experience: "I suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor, hitting my head on a metal platform on the way down. I vaguely remember panicked voices and being wheeled away to the first aid room."

Detailing the emergency response and subsequent findings, he added: "Paramedics rushed me to the local hospital, where they performed a scan of my head to check the impact hadn't caused any internal bleeding. That was when they found a 'lesion' in a totally different part of my brain to where I'd hit my head. I was put on anticonvulsant medication, told I could no longer drive and stayed in a ward that whole first week."

He opened up about his shocking diagnosis saying, "It took a good couple of months for this information to sink in, and when it finally did, I was utterly broken. Everything changed for me on Monday, February 21, 2022." Sharing his disbelief, he expressed, "How could this have happened to me? I'm active, I eat well, I have no cognitive impairment. I couldn't understand how I'd never experienced any symptoms whatsoever, yet this abnormal cluster of cells had been slowly growing for years in my brain, perhaps from birth, or perhaps from adolescence. I'll never know for certain.", reports Birmingham Live.

Cameron later revealed that his tumour is located in the left-side motor strip of his brain, which is essential for controlling all voluntary movement in the body's right side, adding, "The upshot was learning that essentially my body is using the brain tumour for movement on the right side of my body (which is bizarre and raises further questions I'll probably never answer). Therefore, the surgeons decided to leave it in place, so as not to paralyse me."

Post-radiotherapy, he underwent six chemotherapy cycles of six weeks each but hit a complication: hives indicating an allergic reaction. Cameron described his determination to maintain normalcy, "Desperate to crack on as normal, I'd travel on three trains across the England-Wales border just to be in my new flat and cycle to work, where I'd do full days, all by choice."

"For whatever reason, my immune system refused to bounce back over the six weeks between cycles. This meant it was too dangerous to administer the treatment. And so, with my neutrophils crushed, I'd simply ride three trains back and inform work that I'd be in next week."

Cameron managed to complete his treatment and celebrated by ringing the bell at the hospital, signifying the end of this chapter. However, the tumour remains, and he likens his feelings to those of a soldier returning to civilian life after being in a combat zone. Now, he undergoes an MRI scan every six months as part of a 'watch and wait' approach, facing the anxiety that comes with each scan.

He expressed his gratitude, saying: "Throughout everything, the Brain Tumour Charity's Young Adults helpline has been a saving grace. I've gone to them on so many occasions to ask questions and try to calm myself down, and they seem to get it like nobody else does because brain tumours are so niche. I invariably feel better after talking to them on the phone."

He also shared a positive experience: "I was also lucky enough to attend the 2023 Summer Masquerade Ball, which happened to fall between my chemotherapy cycles. It was a great event held at Chatsworth House where I got to meet many people in similar positions to myself, which was so valuable to me because the feeling of isolation can be strong sometimes."

Cameron concluded with a powerful reflection: "I've learned I can't leave the brain tumour behind, and I can't let it dominate me. What lies in the middle of those two things is coexistence. Acknowledgment. Acceptance."

"The peculiarity of my situation is that the tumour is involved in my right-side mobility, meaning it helps me every day of my life to walk, type, write, run - swim, all of it. I've been unknowingly living with it for a long time. That brings me back to where I started. Everything changed for me that day in February, and I must find a way to coexist peacefully with a passenger in my brain that is ultimately a part of who I am, and who I've always been."