‘My runny nose turned out to be a brain tumour’

A man who thought he was suffering with the flu was given 12 months to live when it was revealed he had a brain tumour.

Kieran Shingler, 26, from Warrington, initially dismissed his symptoms which included a headache, sore throat, and runny nose back in 2022.

However, when his condition worsened, he was given a CT scan which revealed a mass on the brain, which turned out to be a fast growing cancerous tumour.

Kieran said: “When I was diagnosed with a brain tumour, I was scared, angry and always questioned why.”

After starting to feel unwell on Bonfire Night 2022, he suspected his symptoms were due to Covid.

He did a Covid test, which came back negative, so he and his girlfriend, Abbie Henstock, 26, brushed off his symptoms as the flu.

But, as weeks went on, Kieran, a HGV driver, started to feel worse and became unable to keep his food down.

Abbie, a communications officer, from Warrington, said: “He was so fit, he was doing a triathlon, working out, we just knew something wasn’t right – this wasn’t Kieran.”

His GP recommended he go to Warrington Hospital, where a CT scan revealed a mass on the brain.

Kieran was then transferred to the Walton Centre, Liverpool, where he had four operations.

He then underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which started to shrink the tumour, but in his most recent scan was told it had started to grow again.

Four days after Christmas in 2022, an hour before Kieran was going into surgery to have a permanent shunt installed, his family was told that he had a grade three astrocytoma – a fast-growing cancerous tumour.

This is when his family were told of his 12-months prognosis.

Symptoms of a brain tumour can vary according to the part of the brain affected, according to the NHS.

It lists common symptoms as headaches, seizures, persistent nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, alongside mental or behavioural changes like memory problems.

Others include progress weakness on one side of the body as well as vision or speech problems.

Kieran said: “I couldn’t have got through the past couple of years without the support of my friends and family but especially my mum and Abbie.

“They always made sure to put me before themselves and I will always be so grateful.”

“At his most recent scan in June 2025, we were told his tumour had started to grow again.” Abbie added.

Kieran, his family and friends have raised more than £52,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity and others, as well as to help pay for different therapies at home, such as an oxygen machine and red light.