What is the link between brain cancer and mental health?
Patrick Melville discusses his story:
When you hear the words ‘mental health’, what springs to mind? When I started my career in marketing those words were very rarely mentioned, except in mental hospitals or TV dramas.
Over the recent years the national focus on mental health has accelerated on a big scale with the evolution of medication and technology, more media story about mental health and the national trauma with the COVID pandemic, just to name a few areas….
For me, the catalyst for my learning was very specific: in July 2017 I was diagnosed with brain cancer. I was running my own business and was cycling in London to go to a meeting to pitch to Google for a big project. Suddenly, I fell off my bike. I had been cycling for over 20 years in London and never had that problem. Thankfully, I was helped to the side of the road by drivers and pedestrians. I went to hospital for a 5 minute scan on my shoulder and I was told I was ok, so I went back to work.
However, my fall kick started headaches. I ignored my headaches because I ‘had to’ put my work, my young family and my busy diary first. It took another 3 weeks for me to seek help when I had severe headaches and a loss of memory. This time I went to Winchester Hospital’s A&E with my mother. I expected to have a ‘normal’ 5 minutes CT scan and then an ‘all clear’ report. This time it was different. No one came to see us until 40 mins later, when 3 nurses and 1 junior doctor asked us to follow them to an empty ward. They sat down around my mother and the junior doctor told me that they had found on a tumour on my left temporal lobe of my brain. I had to stay in the hospital for more CT and MRI scans, and for me to find the relevant medical for my next steps. Whilst I was in the hospital, I discovered the full picture about my feelings and why I had fallen off my bike – I had a seizure. This was due to a tumour: 4.7cm, malignant, stage 4 and mutated glioblastoma.
Fast forwarding 5 years after neuro-surgery, radiotherapy and chemo, I am extremely grateful to be in remission. That journey is another story but I want to share this side to explain why I now work as a mental health practitioner. I use my experience with terminal cancer and mental health learning to guide and inspire people about mental health.
I found my role and voice in mental health when people wanted to hear my story. My purpose and passion is to help people avoid burn out, to take away mental health stigmas and learn to how to self-care and support others. I have worked in the cancer space with staff, patients, family and friends and senior leaders, as well as other sectors.
I want to give back especially to those who have helped me. In cricket language – “I am in my second innings”. I would like to share my learnings in mental health using my own experience and professional knowledge……
Our minds are unique. They are built by our own nature and nurture experiences, including through the major traumas with brain cancer. Other factors include our genetics, background, social experience, cultural environment and work experiences.
The phrase ‘mental health’ has come to the fore in recent years, but how well do we understand its meaning? Those who misconstrue the true meaning of the words ‘mental health’ run the risk of creating stigmas, misunderstandings and unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.
One of my purposes is to normalise the understanding of the words associated with mental health. Try this simple task – take 30 seconds to answer the question: ‘Are the words ‘mental health’ a 1) positive statement, 2) neutral statement or 3) negative statement?’
The website https://www.mentalhealth.gov/ offers a clear definition:
“Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act”.
This is a neutral statement; despite any feelings this might provoke! Once we understand these words, we can acknowledge the meaning of the other phrases: ‘Positive’ means ‘healthy’, and ‘negative’ means ‘ill’. Normalising the phrase ‘mental health’ is one of the first steps forward to finding suitable approaches to self-care. I learned how my mind could interrupt and also help my wellbeing. I had to understand and acknowledge that my physical cancer experience also had an impact on my mental health. The impact was not a one off but on a continual basis – minute by minute – both directly and indirectly. I also had to focus on the positive connection between brain cancer and mental health!
A good example was in my oncologist meetings. I was given a good tip: to record the meeting. I would be able to listen to the interview again when I was in a better and rationale state. I could make sure I did not miss any of the key points. I could also share the recording with my close contacts to get their point of view and reaffirm my understanding of the meeting. It is a simple but positive exercise to manage a mental health worry, and not just for myself but my close contacts. I would like to add that I had my oncologist’s agreement. I still have oncologist meetings every 14 weeks where I recording my meetings and I have whole library on my phone.
I learned more about positive side of mental health when I went to an event organised by ‘The Brain Tumour’ charity. It was 6 months after my diagnosis and there were a range of speakers from all over the globe. One speaker who was a researcher gave a tip that I still use for myself and share when I am speaking to others. The tip was mental and non-medical: the people who responded to cancer experience and treatment better were those who focused on “positivity” and “control”. Medicine and other physical treatment do this but there are other part of our wellbeing where this can be done, including mental health. I worked to improve my mental health through positivity and control. It gave me more confidence to manage the situation. This was not a guaranteed cure to my terminal diagnosis but using this approach it helped me to focus on the problem and what the next steps to consider. This includes with my oncologist, taking my kids to school, putting my records together – to name a few.
Understanding our minds I plan to give some of these techniques with BTRC in the next weeks.
Wishing you a lovey rest of your day
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/science/information-theory/Physiology
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
Patrick can be contacted via:
Email: patrick@melville-solutions.com
Twitter: @melvsolutions
