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Barry Reid was at Universal with his family when he collapsed and was rushed to a nearby emergency room.
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A father of two spoke of his holiday horror after being diagnosed with a brain tumor while on a family dream trip to Florida.
Barry Reid, his wife Gillian and their two young daughters, Chloe and Katie, as well as his in-laws, went to their dream vacation last October.
But twelve days after the start of their vacation, Reid got worse and collapsed at Volcano Bay Park Universal while waiting to make a toboggan.
At age 32, at the age of 32, he found himself in an ambulance bound for a local hospital connected to a host of machines.
Reid, from Ayr, in southern Ayrshire, says he could not believe it when the doctor diagnosed him with a brain tumor.
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"I have had several exams at the Orlando Hospital," he said. "As the results came back, it was the last thing the doctor thought:" Mr. Reid, the MRI showed a brain tumor in the frontal lobe at the front left of your brain. "It's the moment my life has changed."
Reid had no previous symptoms, apart from several headaches, he set up a new LED lighting in the store on the main street where he is director of distribution.
At that time, the doctor has just prescribed an anti-migraine on sale.
After his collapse in Orlando, the doctors stabilized Reid and gave him anti-epileptic drugs.
Reid had no previous symptoms, except for recurring headaches, which he thought were due to the lights used by his work.
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He was then repatriated with a medical escort to ensure his safety five days later, on 25 October.
Upon his return, Reid was taken directly to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow to give his notes to the American doctors and discuss the next step.
Only two weeks later, Reid was facing a craniotomy brain tumor operation to remove the 3.5 cm mass as much as possible.
"I was terrified by brain surgery, obviously, I was shaking physically," he said. "The day before my operation, the anesthesiologist took the time to show me in the operating room to calm my nerves, explaining the procedure, showing me the table on which I would lie – all to calm me down."
"I will always appreciate that, I knew I had to trust the surgeon Mr. Grivas and his team," he said. "More than ten hours later, the operation was over, Mr. Grivas did an amazing job and left only 3mm of the tumor and he was happy with the way the operation was done."
Reid's operation implied that he was anesthetized, but the surgeon would have to wake him up during the operation to perform verbal tests to ensure that none of his healthy tissue was damaged.
"As they were working closer to the part of my brain, they said that I started to stutter and that they knew they could not go any further," he said. "At one point, the doctors said I was singing like a parakeet during the waking portion of the craniotomy, I can not remember it, so maybe that's not a bad thing . "
Doctors discovered after the surgery that Reid's tumor had changed from a grade 2 tumor to 3 – cancer cells appear markedly abnormal under a microscope.
Five days later, Reid was allowed to return home with his family just one day before his 32nd birthday.
But Reid was then reinstated in the neuro ward two weeks later with a severe skull infection.
He spent more than six weeks in the hospital – missing the Christmas holidays with his wife and children.
"It was really difficult," he said. "Fortunately, I had a six-hour window with my family just on Christmas Day between the treatment of the infection – just enough time to open the presents with them."
After chemotherapy treatment for the remaining 3 mm of the tumor, Reid spent the last eight months working hard to recover and return to work.
"I would like to thank the neurosurgeon, Mr. A Grivas and all the staff in Room 63 for taking care of me and my family during my stay at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital," he said. "All the staff were very friendly and always made sure I received the best care possible."
Barry is now facing more radiation therapy in mid-February 2019 to reduce the remaining parts of the tumor.
Now, the inspiring dad and his family are determined to raise awareness as much as possible of the devastating impact of a brain tumor diagnosis.
On October 20, he will participate in The Brain Tumor Charity's Prestwick Twilight Walk, which brings together the community of all those affected.
This is part of The Charity's annual Twilight Walks.
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"As a family, we look forward to the Prestwick walk," he said. "You get a diagnosis like this and suddenly, you realize that there are other people passing by."
"We had the support of Katie Grier and Heather Dearie, who also live with a brain tumor and live close to us, who also work for the association," he said.
"We always knew we had incredible fans and Barry's story confirms it," said Katie Grier, charity fundraiser. "A big thank you to him and his family for sharing his story and playing an invaluable role in our community as we strive to eliminate brain tumors."
"We look forward to joining them and our community for the Prestwick Twilight Walk," she said. "Brain tumors are the biggest cause of cancer in people under 40, and survival rates have not improved significantly over the last 40 years, and we are fighting brain tumors on all fronts."
The Brain Tumor Charity is one of the largest UK charities specializing in brain tumors.
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