'I owe my life to doctors and nurses'

A man from Devon said he owes his life to doctors and nurses after they removed a suddenly discovered brain tumour.

Jake Bristow was 32-years-old, working in a family air conditioning business in Exeter, when he was diagnosed with the life-threatening growth.

He then went for surgery at Derriford Hospital, where he was treated by neurosurgeons, doctors, and nurses.

Since the event, Mr Bristow said his whole outlook on life changed and made him realise "life is too short not to do a job that you love and have passion for", so he is now launching a children's football training business in Plymouth.

He said: "It was a sudden onset. I never really suffered headaches, until one day when I was playing in the garden with my son.

"I went upstairs to lay down and thought it was just a migraine. But then, after three days, my wife said it didn't seem to be a migraine, so then, when I went to get tested, it all spiralled from there."

Mr Bristow said he left getting checked at hospital until the very last minute.

He said: "The time when the doctors sat me in a room and told me it was a tumour, that’s when it really hit home.

"I was scared - I didn’t want to die, I wanted to be alive for my kids."

After further testing, he was then sent for surgery to remove the tumour, which was so successful he was heading home after just two days.

Mr Bristow is still tested once a year, and said he was now embracing life in his new career as a football coach.

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