Father-of-two’s overwhelming smell of bleach led to devastating diagnosis
When a dad-of-two came home to find the house smelling overwhelmingly of bleach, he thought his wife had just been cleaning.
Unfortunately for family man Sam Suriakumar, 40, it was the start of something much more serious.
He recalled how in the days leading up to his diagnosis in February 2020, he had been experiencing some strange symptoms, such as 'smelling a strange smell and feeling really unwell'.
"It was a smell like ammonia or bleach, and it felt like a cleaning agent was filling up my mouth. I now know this as a symptom or a warning sign called an ‘aura,'" he explained.
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However, it wasn't until a terrifying incident on his commute home that Sam got to the bottom of what was wrong.
A 'trigger warning' that something was going on in his brain
He told the Daily Mail about how overpowering the bleach smell was: "I felt like I needed to lean against the wall to stand, I felt very strange but didn't think much of it."
The dad also shared his story with the Brain Tumour Research site, revealing: "The next day, when I was lifting a heavy weight at the gym, I experienced the same smell. I felt like I was going to collapse, and I had to put the weight down. I didn’t know it was a trigger warning that something was going on in my brain."
It was when he was struggling to look at a computer screen the next day that he decided to head home.
He closed his eyes to try and feel better, and opened them minutes later, but felt like 'so much time had passed' before having a type of seizure called a tonic-clonic seizure.
Seizures that lead to a devastating diagnosis
Sam recalled the scary moment: "My seizure was so severe that I fell off my seat, and the contractions were so violent that I dislocated my shoulder."
Fortunately, a good Samaritan was there to help and pulled the emergency lever on the tube, with Sam being taken to Balham [London Underground station] where the station staff called an ambulance. Later, he was told he'd had another seizure in the ambulance.
He was taken to St George's Hospital in London, where he confounded doctors at first as he had no previous symptoms.
They ran a battery of tests, including scans and a lumbar puncture.
A second scan revealed he had a mass on his brain, and he was diagnosed with a glioma - a cancerous brain tumour - in February 2020.
The dad-of-two has been spending as much time as he can with his family (Brain Tumour Research)
What is glioma?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are several types, including astrocytomas, ependymomas and oligodendrogliomas: "Gliomas can affect children or adults. Some grow very quickly. Most people with gliomas need a combination of treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy."
Sam said he was 'devastated' following the diagnosis, and worried about his two young children.
"When they told me, I was devastated. I didn’t even understand those words. To me they just meant death with a zero per cent chance of fighting this," he explained, and how his life had changed overnight.
"My brain [tumour] is a glioma and it was growing like a cobweb. This means it is difficult to remove with surgery without causing damage to the areas of my brain which control speech, memory, emotions and mobility."
He said it's not possible to remove it entirely either, explaining if he 'did have an operation, it would only be possible to remove 40% of the mass'. However, he has recently completed a round of chemotherapy, as well as celebrating his 40th birthday - a landmark he thought he 'wouldn't get to see'.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 8g08 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Jen Thomas