Newcastle hospital worker back on the wards after surgeons saved his life

A brain tumour survivor has returned to work in the hospital where surgeons saved his life.

Martin Crosby underwent an operation to remove a rare tumour which was discovered embedded deep in his brain by doctors at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Now, after recovering from his life-saving surgery, the 47 year old is back on the hospital wards where he works as assistant directorate manager in plastics and dermatology.

Martin said: “Finding out I had a brain tumour was a massive shock for me and my family.

“The surgeons told me at the time of my surgery that there was a chance I might not work again but here I am, back working full time at the RVI.

“Since I’ve been a patient myself now, I feel even more proud to work for such an amazing place.”

The dad-of-two first noticed something was wrong when he started to gain a lot of weight despite taking good care of himself. His peripheral vision also became poor which started to affect everyday life.

After a series of tests and an MRI scan, doctors broke the news that Martin had a tumour the size of a golf ball on his brain.

The tumour was located 11cm deep into Martin’s brain and was attached onto his Pituitary gland. Within a few days of processing the news Martin, dad to Maddy, 10, and Ben, eight, was referred for neurosurgery at the Region’s Neurosciences Centre, based at the RVI in Newcastle.

After the surgery had taken place, Marin’s recovery spelled a worrying time for the whole of the family, including wife Rhonda, 46.

The dad was taken to Newcastle’s Walkergate Park, a rehabilitation facility for people with head injuries, where he stayed for a month as he slowly started to get back on the road to recovery . The rehabilitation offered him cognitive sessions, exercise and helped Martin to regain his independence.

Today, Martin depends on steroids to replace the hormones he is missing since his Pituitary Gland was removed. He has also attended Endocrinology peer groups in which he was able to discuss the care he received from a patient’s perspective.

Because of his experience, Martin now runs a support group to help people who, like him, suffer with the long term effects of Pituitary conditions.

The Pituitary Foundation has grown nationally in recent years and Martin is enthusiastic about a local support group he has set up for people in the North East to share and talk about their experiences. Many of these conditions are incredibly rare.

Martin added: “There are a number of conditions caused by pituitary problems - some are genetic, some from birth and some, like mine, happen out of the blue.

“As these conditions are so rare, the people affected often feel very lonely and isolated. I set up the North East Pituitary Patient Support Group to give people affected the opportunity to talk and meet with others in similar circumstances.”

•The next meeting of the North East Pituitary Patient Support Group is this Saturday at 10:30am in the Costa coffee shop adjacent to Blackwell’s Bookshop in Newcastle city centre.

Tumour factfile:

• Pituitary tumours are classed as brain tumours. However they are different to most other brain tumours and are usually benign (non-cancerous).

• The Pituitary gland produces hormones which control other glands in the body i.e. growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone

• When the Pituitary gland is removed with the tumour, drugs will have to be taken to replace the missing hormone.

• About 4,700 people are diagnosed with brain tumours each year in the UK. About 1 in 10 of those is Pituitary gland.

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