A Cumbrian man with a terminal brain tumour is preparing to spend his “last Christmas” with his wife.

It took two years and three MRI scans before Dan Potts, 46, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumour in December 2021.

Dan and his wife, Liah, 26, from near Loweswater, are now crowdfunding for Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease.

Dan said: “We think this Christmas may be our last together, so we just want to have Christmas dinner and spend some quality time together.

“We both love Christmas, but we were apart last year because I was in intensive care so Christmas was cancelled. It’s tough but we’re both facing this head-on and trying to be as positive as possible.”

Dan started getting headaches and weakness down the right-side of his body in December 2018. After an MRI scan at Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey, where he was living at the time, he was told a pinched nerve was causing the problems.

Six months later, the pain had become “unbearable” so Dan had another MRI scan but was again told he had a pinched nerve.

After a third scan in December 2021, Dan was diagnosed with a glioblastoma.

He said: “I was told it was terminal and any treatment would just be to try to prolong my life because there was no cure.

“I was told this on an open hospital ward with no privacy, which was not very nice. I was crying; I just didn’t expect news like that. The average survival time is just 12-18 months which is devastating.”

Dan had a craniotomy at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on December, 29 2021.

The procedure “went well” but he now has epilepsy and is on four different types of anti-seizure medication.

He has undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and has just finished a six-month course of a higher dose of chemotherapy.

Dan and Liah are now crowdfunding for Brain Tumour Research, Macmillan, and St John’s in Keswick, where Dan wants to be buried.

Dan said: “It’s so important to raise as much money and awareness of brain tumours. There is such a lack of funding, and the treatment hasn’t changed in over 20 years. That has got to change.”

READ MORE: Woman loses four stone with Slimming World encouraging others to get involved

Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research said: “We are so sorry to hear of Dan’s diagnosis.

"We are really grateful to him and Liah for crowdfunding for us, as it’s only with the support of people like them that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours and improve the outcome for patients like Dan who are forced to fight this awful disease.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure

To donate to the Dan and Liah’s JustGiving page, visit: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/danpottsgmb4

READ MORE: Parents of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith respond to ESFA