A dad -of-three died after suffering a "permanent headache that wouldn't go away" which turned out to be a brain tumour.
Karl Griffith was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) mass and passed away on January 6 aged just 54.
Wife Lara, 43, said her partner was otherwise very healthy and had never had a day off work, while often enjoying hiking and running for charity.
The operations manager at Tulketh Mill in Preston, Lancashire, first noticed something was wrong in May 2020, reports LancsLive.
Karl's GP told him his headaches were due to stress and advised him to take a few days off work.
Lara, from Penwortham, saw his previously calm and loving nature change and he became "really snappy", often complaining his food was "off".
"I thought he had early-onset dementia," the grieving widow said.
However, as Karl's condition deteriorated further blood tests that July baffling came back all clear.
He went back to his GP in September 2020 before being referred to Royal Preston Hospital where a scan revealed the mass on his brain.
Lara said: "He was never ill, he never drank or smoked, and he ran every single day. So, it came as a massive shock to us all.
"Karl was just someone who was always on the go, constantly, and never sat still."
She said as a bystander she felt "helpless" as her husband grew sicker and his personality continued to change - though he never knew.
"All we did as a family was try to keep things as normal as possible," she continued.
Karl "never accepted that he wasn't going to get better" and so not being to work or drive shattered his reality, his wife explained.
Lara, a travel consultant, admitted being such a "practical person" she too thought chemo and an operation would surely save him, despite what doctors had said.
A month after diagnosis Karl underwent a craniotomy while awake and had three tumours removed but a fourth had to be left as it was so deep in his brain.
Lara said: "Karl was doing really well but from the end of November, I was watching him decline every day and he lost his sight in one eye.
"I couldn’t lift him, so Karl had to go to St Catherine’s Hospice in Preston. He was hallucinating and thought the nurses were trying to kill him."
Karl died peacefully with his wife and kids Alannah, 10, Indi, 15, and Livinia, 22, by his side.
Lara said brain tumours are "so indiscriminate" and advised anyone in a similar position to "trust their instincts".
"Karl had never been to the doctors for anything, so I think they should have taken him a bit more seriously at the start.
"You know yourself and your loved ones, most of everybody, so keep insisting and keep pushing if something is not right."
Lara is working with the charity Brain Tumour Research to help raise awareness.
Statistics show brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.
The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.
