Brain tumour patient raises awareness at Parkrun

A brain tumour patient has raised awareness about the cancer at a Jersey Parkrun event.

Ryan O'Shea was diagnosed with a grade one diffuse astrocytoma in 2022 at the age of 25. Since undergoing brain surgery – O'Shea, now 29-years-old, has been going to Parkrun almost every week.

Last weekend he spoke in front of more than 400 runners to talk about his work with the Jersey Brain Tumour Charity (JBTC) and how its work made a difference to patients like himself.

He said: "I wanted to give something back to the charity and community so working alongside Jersey Parkrun for an awareness event was very rewarding."

O'Shea experienced headaches and migraines for up to eight months before his diagnosis and, in the days leading up to his tumour being discovered, he began to stutter and struggled with memory loss.

He had a biopsy of the left frontal tumour and a external ventricular drain (EVD) to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 2022.

O'Shea has MRI scans every six months and this could continue for the rest of his life to monitor the size of his tumour, he said.

He said: "The community aspect is wonderful at Parkrun and it's what motivates me to keep going back.

"I would like to thank everyone who attended and took time to learn a bit about the charity."

Jersey Parkrun race director Matt Cuthbert said: "This Saturday we had 413 people participate who got to learn about the JBTC.

"This was a win-win for participants and the wider community by combining physical activity with raising awareness of brain tumours and the work of the charity locally."

JBTC chairwoman Sonia Le Clercq said: "This was a fantastic opportunity to share the work the charity does with those taking part.

"We had some amazing conversations and the opportunity definitely allowed us to raise the profile of the charity."

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