‘There were no real signs but I’ll be lucky to get to 40’

Jack Faint was told some surprising news after he fell off his bike

Jack Faint was riding his bike to work when he unexpectedly had a seizure (Image: Jack Faint)

A man with no symptoms was given a shocking diagnosis. Jack Faint, 32, unexpectedly had a seizure while riding his bike in 2019 and landed on his face.

After being taken to hospital, he was formally diagnosed with oligodendroglioma in March 2019, a rare and slow growing brain tumour. According to the Brain Tumour Charity, a brain tumour might cause a seizure or epilepsy. Oligodendrogliomas account for roughly 3% of all primary brain tumours. Jack was told he had around 10 to 15 years to live.

Jack says he experienced no symptoms associated with a brain tumour beforehand, such as headaches, changes to vision and nausea. Speaking to the ECHO, he said: “There were no real signs.

“I was living in Australia with a few pals. I was cycling my bike to work one Tuesday morning. At about 7.30am, when I got into Melbourne city centre, I had a seizure on my bike and landed on my face.

“I got taken to hospital just to run some scans and tests. First they ran a CT scan and it came back that there was a spot at the back of my brain that needed more investigating.

“So then they sent me off for an MRI scan and that came back with a suspected brain tumour. Then they gave me three options. They said, you can have full surgery and take it out, we can do nothing and have another MRI scan in three months and see if it changes, or we can have a biopsy.”

Jack, who is originally from Northwich in Cheshire, decided to have the biopsy, which was when he was told he had the rare tumour. The news came as a huge surprise to him.

He said: “When I asked they said, you will probably get 10, 15 years. I’ll be lucky to get to the age of 40 really. I was probably just in a state of shock. Life was a really busy time in life, so I don’t think I really digested exactly what I’d been through for a period of time.”

Jack was told in 2019 that he had around 10 to 15 years of life left(Image: Jack Faint)

The diagnosis did spark a change in Jack’s lifestyle though. He said: “At the time, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. I drank and smoked and didn’t look after myself in any way.

“I didn’t really do any fitness. The doctor just recommended a huge holistic lifestyle change of cutting down alcohol and stopping smoking, starting meditating, changing diet.

“After the diagnosis, I went back to the UK for a short period for my sister’s wedding, and then went on a 12 month solo trip around the world.

“I spent six months in South America and then another four months in India just trying to implement all of these huge lifestyle changes to understand how I could live and thrive in the face of the diagnosis.”

Jack started doing ultra marathons around the world to raise money for brain tumour charities. For his latest challenge, he wanted to do something big.

In a few days, he will embark on a mission to become the first person to run the entire length of India in 80 days, totalling around 2,500 miles.

Jack will be attempting to run the full length of India(Image: Jack Faint)

Jack said: “I wanted to go back to the country that helped me transform and try and help tell the story to perhaps other people that are going through some problems, where it’s a serious diagnosis, whether they’ve lost a loved one, whether they’re suffering from depression.

“The only thing we can really control is how we react and we all have a choice to turn that pain that we all go through into some form of purpose.”

As well as supporting the charities, Jack is aiming to show others that “you can find light in the dark and choose to turn these difficult moments into a positive situation”.

He said: “I’ve spent many years understanding what happened, why it happened and and that this is my life path.

“It’s incredibly touching to see some old faces, some old names that I’ve for many years, and obviously some people close to me and many people that I’ve never met before that have been touched by the story and have been donating.”

You can find out more about Jack’s challenge by visiting his website here and GoFundMe page here.

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