A Scots man who has been told he has just 'months' to live is to share his touching story in a new BBC Scotland film about his terminal brain tumour.
Gordon Shaw, a 41-year-old cancer patient from Leith in Edinburgh, first noticed something was wrong in 2012 and was later diagnosed with astrocytoma - a tumour that can grow slowly but can also be very aggressive.
But just a few months ago the comic book artist was given a dire prognosis by medics that they don't expect to have much more time left now that he has an aggressive tumour with no treatment options available.
The moment has been captured in Long Live My Happy Head which documents Gordon's journey with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and his long-distance relationship with Shawn, an American man he met in June 2017.
Gordon, who is raising awareness with the Brain Tumour Research charity, said: “It’s amazing to have my story told in this film.
"It’s very touching, but it’s also an unexpectedly uplifting love story about me - a Scottish comic book artist with a brain tumour who uses art to communicate my experience of cancer.
“When I heard the tumour had become a GBM my dearest wish was to survive to be able to see the film premiere of Long Live My Happy Head which highlights the most difficult time of my life.
"It looks like I am going to make it!”
Gordon was living in London when he had a seizure at a friend's house in Autumn 2012.
“It took him a while to realise I wasn’t OK as I couldn’t explain what was happening. Just a few minutes later I had another seizure which lasted longer," he explained.
“My friend phoned for an ambulance, and I was taken to Accident and Emergency at the Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, where I had yet another seizure.”
Gordon had a CAT scan and was told he might have had a stroke. He was transferred to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where a consultant who, having decided it wasn’t a stroke, said he might be HIV positive.
He was later transferred to neurology, and an MRI scan confirmed he had an astrocytoma.
He said: “The neurologist said it was inoperable and incurable. He told me he couldn’t give me a prognosis.
“It was earth-shattering and left me feeling very depressed, often incapable of getting out of bed.”
In early 2013 a scan revealed the tumour was growing and Gordon was told it had further reduced his life expectancy. He underwent six weeks of radiotherapy alongside six doses of chemotherapy.
By the end of the year Gordon moved back to Scotland to be closer to his friends.
It's then when started creating a series of comic books to help others understand what is like to be diagnosed with cancer and to be given a terminal prognosis.
Several years at the start of the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, Gordon had an MRI scan.
“I was with the doctor and the nurse who were both fully masked, and my partner Shawn and my brother Craig were remotely present via a WhatsApp video call on my phone," he said.
“They said I had just months, or maybe up to a year left to live. It seemed absolutely brutal and was the worst day of my life.
“I was on my own. How are you supposed to deal with something like that without support? I knew the tumour was going to kill me, but it was going to kill me slowly!”
Surgery then followed for the 41-year-old at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in November 2021 and a scan on the morning of the procedure revealed the tumour had already grown 50% since September.
Gordon’s tumour was classified as a GBM and he was given just months to live with no treatment options available.
His experiences are the inspiration behind four comic books he has created which help people understand what it’s like living with cancer.
Long Live My Happy Head , a BBC documentary which will be available to watch on iPlayer from March 27 and will be aired on BBC Scotland on the same day at 9.30pm.
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