Mr Christopher Derham 2018-02-08 Person 5 5 0

I Had been suffering from headaches on and off for a number of years and always put it down to a very demanding and high pressure job, redundancy, difficulties in personal life and the general challenges everyone has in life. It was only when I moved to Yorkshire for a new job, the headaches and complete exhaustion were getting worse (I was going to bed at 7pm after a full day in the office , I put it down to the stress of a new job, new location....) Thank goodness for Yorkshire NHS! After 5 sets of inconclusive blood tests my Doctor sent me to see a Thyroid specialist at The Yorkshire Clinic. They quickly organised an MRI scan for 8.15am on the following Monday morning to get a “picture” of what was going on in my head! At 4.30pm the following day I was called at work by a registrar, asking me to bring an overnight bag to Leeds General Infirmary straight away, as they wanted to do some follow up tests to the MRI scan. What followed was the worst night of my life as I was completely unaware that I had a very rare brain tumour growing in my brain, causing hydrocephalus through blocking the drainage of the brain fluid down my spinal cord, which could have caused a seizure or worse, any moment! The amazing skill, care and compassion of Mr Derham and ALL the teams in the Leeds Teaching hospitals is world class. I have been privileged to travel the world on business and there is nowhere I would rather be than in the care of the team at Leeds and Mr Derham.