“I’m relieved he’s still here”: the impressive story of Colin and Anita, the husband and wife who were diagnosed with a brain tumor 14 months apart

A married couple, parents of a 12-year-old girl, face the biggest challenge life can throw at them: both were diagnosed with a brain tumor just 14 months apart.

“At first it seemed very unfair that Colin and I should have this disease, but now I’ve learned to accept it,” 45-year-old Anita Jamieson told British media.

The woman, quoted in the Mirror and Express, said Colin was diagnosed three years ago after suffering from migraines, exhaustion and nausea.

They attributed the discomfort and headaches to overtime at the transportation company he ran.

But in July 2018, they learned that Colin had not one but two tumors in his brain.

These are the first symptoms of a brain tumor

“In shock” to learn of the presence of tumors

The spouses live in Emberton, Buckinghamshire, England. From there, Anita is soliciting support for funding from the Brain Tumor Research charity, the Express reported.

While still processing Colin’s illness, Anita received another shocking news: she had also been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“At first I was in shock, very scared for our daughter and extremely angry,” she recalls, as told in the Mirror.

Perhaps this process has hit Anita the hardest, with an adolescent daughter and husband, 14 years her senior, in whom she notices episodes of serious affection.

Colin is not the same anymore, says his wife

The illness has left Colin grumpy, who gets upset easily and especially when things don’t go the way he wants, his partner described.

The man has lost his hearing and had to quit his job due to memory problems; after that they closed their own shipping company.

Colin is still loving and kind, but very different from the man I knew

Anita, the woman

Colin has had four surgeries and radiation. Unable to process information, as his wife explained to the British media, he also had to leave two other jobs he had held before without any setbacks.

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The complicated years 2018 and 2019

In 2018, after strong migraines that drove him to spend a week in bed, they put him through tests and processed a biopsy from which, he stated, they had never had any concrete results.

Fourteen months later she was diagnosed with a meningioma, a primary tumor of the central nervous system.

In those days everything was complicated. Anita said she was diagnosed when her husband was “at the height of the illness” and her father was “seriously ill.”

‘I’m relieved he’s still here’

Revealing their impressive story, Anita and Colin heartily ask for help for the Brain Tumor Research charity.

Despite today’s “terrible memory” of Colin, Anita said she was relieved he was “still here,” according to the Mirror.

“Although some days are hard, I try to be thankful for what we have now,” said Anita, perhaps convinced of the power of the phrase, “love conquers all.” (JO)

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