A man was turned into semi-pro goalkeeper by an undiagnosed brain tumour - which made him grow to 6ft 6ins and develop large hands.
Tom Mayor, 34, was always lofty as a child but put it down to genetics as his family are also tall.
His hands were also large for his age and his ''fingers would swell up like a pack of large sausages''.
Because of his height and big hands Tom became a semi-pro goalie and played for Northampton Town F.C and Leicester City Football Club Youth Academy.
He was working as a footie coach in the US in 2014 when he started suffering migraines and a scan revealed he had an undetected brain tumour.
Tom was also found to have rare growth hormone disorder known as acromegaly - made famous by the James Bond villain Jaws.
Doctors believe the undetected tumour had probably caused the acromegaly - which had caused him to be so tall and have large hands.
Tom is marking a decade since his first surgery by completing 10km of running, walking, swimming and cycling every day for 10 months for Brain Tumour Research.
Tom, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said: “I was always taller than my friends but never freakishly tall, my brother is 6’2 so is my dad.
"My hands were large for my age and my fingers would swell up like a pack of large sausages.
“I was a goalkeeper and a very active child who got into a lot of accidents - but it was part of growing up! Never anything unusual.
“I’ve always been tall which I put down to my family genes however, doctors told me my height was probably spurred on by the tumour.''
Tom recalls his active childhood with fond memories - as he admits “never thinking anything of his height”.
Tom, now an NHS programme manager, says his sporty upbringing meant he was kicked a lot and suffered multiple concussions.
Ten years ago he developed a headache he describes as feeling like a ‘hangover' - then diagnosed with a pituitary tumour.
Tom, who was coaching football in the US at the time, said: “I have never had a hangover because I’ve always had this headache.
“The only way to describe it is like a pressure headache pressing by my eyes, like a constant push right on my forehead - it’s there 24/7 seven days a week and I have had that for 10 years.
“All the medical professionals I have spoken to say I might have it for the rest of my life - a real kicker!
“It was annoying, I took some tablets and it wouldn’t go away, I couldn’t sleep - I thought it was weird, wondering what it is and just trying to figure it out.”
Tom explained that because the tumour lies on his pituitary gland it was “either dialing up or dialing down hormones which the pituitary was producing”.
He was told he was “probably” born with the tumour, which gave him acromegaly
Tom said: “You either get it at birth and you always have an obvious large body part, or around your growth spurt age.
“But because I had a tumour, the doctors said I had probably had it from birth - if they had tested my growth hormone as a kid we would have known.”
At some point Tom will have radiotherapy, which he says “will kill everything” and from that point he will have to manage the tumour.
His first surgery removing part of the tumour has left him with diabetes insipidus - an excessive thirst that without medication means he can drink up to 20 litres a day.
He said: “I now drink about nine to ten litres a day but with no medication it’s nineteen to twenty litres a day - if I drink for thirst I will be forever drinking.”
Tom is marking a decade since his first surgery by completing 10km of movement every day for 10 months in aid of the charity Brain Tumour Research.
His challenge will include running, cycling, swimming and any other method each day for that length of distance until October.
Tom added: “I am not one to sit on my arse and think how tough my life has been - I call it my tumourversary because I celebrate the fact, I got my diagnosis because I wouldn't be who I am now.
“If people could get diagnosed and treated earlier they wouldn't have to go through this, whatever brain tumour it might be - they are all horrible and debilitate your life in some way - awareness is what you need and if i can do a little bit to raise awareness, that is great.”
You can view Tom's progress on his challenge here: https://www.instagram.com/10kadaytom/
Support his fundraiser at: www.justgiving.com/page/tom-mayor-10k-a-day
Tom Mayor, 34, was always lofty as a child but put it down to genetics as his family are also tall.
His hands were also large for his age and his ''fingers would swell up like a pack of large sausages''.
Because of his height and big hands Tom became a semi-pro goalie and played for Northampton Town F.C and Leicester City Football Club Youth Academy.
He was working as a footie coach in the US in 2014 when he started suffering migraines and a scan revealed he had an undetected brain tumour.
Tom was also found to have rare growth hormone disorder known as acromegaly - made famous by the James Bond villain Jaws.
Doctors believe the undetected tumour had probably caused the acromegaly - which had caused him to be so tall and have large hands.
Tom is marking a decade since his first surgery by completing 10km of running, walking, swimming and cycling every day for 10 months for Brain Tumour Research.
Tom, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, said: “I was always taller than my friends but never freakishly tall, my brother is 6’2 so is my dad.
"My hands were large for my age and my fingers would swell up like a pack of large sausages.
“I was a goalkeeper and a very active child who got into a lot of accidents - but it was part of growing up! Never anything unusual.
“I’ve always been tall which I put down to my family genes however, doctors told me my height was probably spurred on by the tumour.''
Tom recalls his active childhood with fond memories - as he admits “never thinking anything of his height”.
Tom, now an NHS programme manager, says his sporty upbringing meant he was kicked a lot and suffered multiple concussions.
Ten years ago he developed a headache he describes as feeling like a ‘hangover' - then diagnosed with a pituitary tumour.
Tom, who was coaching football in the US at the time, said: “I have never had a hangover because I’ve always had this headache.
“The only way to describe it is like a pressure headache pressing by my eyes, like a constant push right on my forehead - it’s there 24/7 seven days a week and I have had that for 10 years.
“All the medical professionals I have spoken to say I might have it for the rest of my life - a real kicker!
“It was annoying, I took some tablets and it wouldn’t go away, I couldn’t sleep - I thought it was weird, wondering what it is and just trying to figure it out.”
Tom explained that because the tumour lies on his pituitary gland it was “either dialing up or dialing down hormones which the pituitary was producing”.
He was told he was “probably” born with the tumour, which gave him acromegaly
Tom said: “You either get it at birth and you always have an obvious large body part, or around your growth spurt age.
“But because I had a tumour, the doctors said I had probably had it from birth - if they had tested my growth hormone as a kid we would have known.”
At some point Tom will have radiotherapy, which he says “will kill everything” and from that point he will have to manage the tumour.
His first surgery removing part of the tumour has left him with diabetes insipidus - an excessive thirst that without medication means he can drink up to 20 litres a day.
He said: “I now drink about nine to ten litres a day but with no medication it’s nineteen to twenty litres a day - if I drink for thirst I will be forever drinking.”
Tom is marking a decade since his first surgery by completing 10km of movement every day for 10 months in aid of the charity Brain Tumour Research.
His challenge will include running, cycling, swimming and any other method each day for that length of distance until October.
Tom added: “I am not one to sit on my arse and think how tough my life has been - I call it my tumourversary because I celebrate the fact, I got my diagnosis because I wouldn't be who I am now.
“If people could get diagnosed and treated earlier they wouldn't have to go through this, whatever brain tumour it might be - they are all horrible and debilitate your life in some way - awareness is what you need and if i can do a little bit to raise awareness, that is great.”
You can view Tom's progress on his challenge here: https://www.instagram.com/10kadaytom/
Support his fundraiser at: www.justgiving.com/page/tom-mayor-10k-a-day
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FunTranscript
00:00 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:03 [FOOTSTEPS]
00:06 I'm Tom Mayer.
00:11 For the last 10 years, I have been living with a brain tumor.
00:14 [FOOTSTEPS]
00:18 I've gone through three surgeries
00:23 on the tumor sitting on my pituitary gland.
00:26 They've removed it three times, and it's always
00:30 grown back a little bit there.
00:32 But because it's been sitting on my pituitary,
00:34 it's been affecting one of my hormones.
00:36 [FOOTSTEPS]
00:39 It's something that, at the beginning,
00:47 was really tough, having to go to the hospital every six
00:50 weeks, having daily injections, having mostly medicines
00:55 kind of prodded or poked all the time, lots of blood tests,
00:58 lots of living out of hospitals and seeing
01:00 various clinicians and consultants isn't the easiest.
01:04 But I think over time, you kind of get used to it,
01:06 and you get into a bit of a daily rhythm or a monthly
01:08 rhythm or all those kinds of stuff there,
01:10 and you just become used to it.
01:12 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:15 It's certainly difficult if you have a change or something new
01:23 comes in, then that's when it becomes really tricky,
01:25 is it always affects your sleep, or it affects your migraines,
01:29 or it affects something else in your life
01:31 that you had spent the last six weeks getting used to.
01:34 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:37 So very early on, so from about two or three weeks
01:47 after my first surgery, about 10 years ago,
01:50 I was told I couldn't do contact sport anymore.
01:52 So I had to stop playing football, which was obviously
01:54 a big part of my life through all of my teens
01:57 and into my early 20s.
01:58 So I had to stop that and anything else I had to do there.
02:01 So that's when I took up kind of the triathlon
02:03 and the cycling and the swimming areas of my life there.
02:06 So that was probably the hardest change at that point
02:10 was to stop that football that I loved
02:12 and that I did all the time.
02:13 [FOOTSTEPS]
02:16 [DOG BARKS]
02:17 [FOOTSTEPS]
02:21 The operations are kind of done now.
02:23 The tumor's at a point where it's
02:24 at that tipping point between it being safe to do so
02:29 but not mitigating too much of the other factors there.
02:32 So they're not going to do any more surgeries on there.
02:35 I've just started some new medication,
02:36 which is a daily injection, which hopefully is going
02:40 to manage my growth hormone, which is the particular one
02:42 that most people are worried about.
02:45 And hopefully, an ongoing management of that
02:47 will work until such time that I need radiotherapy
02:51 and start my radiotherapy.
02:53 [INAUDIBLE]
02:55 - You want me to move? - Yeah, move.
02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]