Ian McCart’s tumour diagnosis story to raise awareness

Amyleigh Cavanagh created a TikTok about her parnter Ian McCart's journey to having a brain tumour diagnosed.

Ian was a fit, amateur MMA fighter, who trained up to four times a week and fought almost every other month. But he ignored constant headaches which almost cost him his life.

“I am reaching out to all the stubborn people, especially guys, who refuse to go to the doctors over something they think could be nothing – exactly like Ian did," Amyleigh said in her video - which recalled her partners diagnosis some two years ago.

It was only a trip to Specsavers to try and find the root of the problem that eventually saw Ian, a father of two young girls, taken for an MRI scan that ultimately saved his life.

During this scan, a large brain tumour was detected, and as Amyleigh described, "time wasn't on his side".

A specialist team had to be put together, and "thanks to the amazing neurological team at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital" Ian went under a successful 21-hour surgery.

It was thanks to this that "my girls still have their daddy and I have my best friend," Amyleigh said.

And it really was so close to being a completely different outcome, as Amyleigh told the Herald.

She said: “If he never went to Specsavers he wouldn’t have been here.

“When we found out about the tumour we were about to go on holiday but it got cancelled because of Covid.

“Thank God it did, because the doctors told him if he’d have went on that holiday the cabin pressure would have killed him.”

Amyleigh and Ian were due to go on their holiday in September of that year - the same month that her partner got his life-saving operation.

“That was just because he was ignoring the headaches," Amyleigh continued, "it just shows that it could be something serious.

“The girls never actually got to see him for a couple of weeks because I stopped them going up because of how sick he was and I didn’t want them to see that.

“The whole purpose of the video was to raise awareness – the amount of people that have messaged me saying 'thank you so much, I have now made an appointment', it’s been like a wake up call.

“Seeing someone that is from Scotland, or the Three Towns, that that has happened to, I think a lot of people don’t think it’s going to happen to you.

“It could be nothing, and hopefully that is the case in most situations but it’s best that you face it head on.”

Amyleigh said that it was not easy to share Ian's story, but she hopes that its contents can be life changing for at least one person.

So far over 100,000 people have viewed the video, which has been shared over 1,000 times, on social media since it was posted just last week.

Amyleigh added: “It took me two weeks to make it because every time I was doing the voiceover I was getting pure upset.

“It took me the longest time to make it and then actually post it but when I saw all those comments coming in I thought that’s amazing.

“It has gone quite far, hopefully it can help at least one person.

“On a daily basis I am still getting messages saying ‘thanks, I’ve took the plunge and I’ve done this or I’ve done that’.

“If that can just help one person, or save one life, or even make someone aware of a situation that they’ve been putting off it’s done what it set out to do.”

Now, two years on from Ian's inital diagnosis, he still faces battles everyday.

When he underwent surgery, a small part of the tumour was left as the part of his brain this was on affects a person's mobility.

“They still wanted him to maintain a good part of his life so they couldn’t fully cut the tumour out because they didn’t want the risk of paralysing him," Amyleigh explained.

Over the past two years, with Ian having to undergo constant MRI scans, it has been noticed that this part is beginning to grow once again.

This means that doctors will now be taking another route to combat the tumour, and Ian will undergo radiotherapy.

Ian still has battles to face, but it is only thanks to finally seeking help that he is here to fight them.