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Martin Bailey shares his extraordinary story of recovering from a brain tumor, optimism and achieving your dreams.

 
Near-Death Experience
Martin was in Antarctica on a boat when he felt a popping sensation in his head. It happened several times, and the ship doctor asked him if he had hit his head.

The fits had stopped on the journey home but began two months after.

His wife and his brother were very supportive.

The neurosurgeon, Dr. Joki, means always happy in English. He thought it was a brilliant name!

They went in through his nose, but he had a plate in his nose cartilage from when he broke it as a child. They couldn't get the apparatus in, so they had to take it out, straighten the bone, make a passage, and punch a hole in his skull.

One afternoon Dr. Joki was in his room, his brother joked that Martin was the clever one in the family, and for 20 minutes they joked back and forth about who was the clever one.  Then they laughed because this conversation was in front of a brain surgeon!!

Then he prepared himself for the surgery mentally. When he heard about all the risks of the surgery, he did start to become concerned. He had a risk of becoming blind or paralyzed. The doctor had lost a patient earlier from the same type of tumor.

Martin’s tumor was benign, so he didn't have to go through cancer treatment.

He never had a will; one of his most emotional moments was when he spoke his will in English and Japanese on a recording. 

He wrote it out and had his brother and his wife sign and witnesses it as well.

The first time he cried was partly through fear but was when he realized he had not been to Africa yet. He had a bucket list, and never realized he may not be able to complete it.

He had not stood on the red soil of Africa and looked out across the Savanna.



 

When they went into the surgery they asked him what type of music he wanted to listen to. He doesn't remember what they played, then they did the countdown, and he was asleep.

When he woke up, the doctor said he was sorry. Martin moved his fingers and toes to make sure he wasn't paralyzed. He could move his fingers and toes, and told the doctor not to worry!!

Then they told him, 5 1/2 hours into the surgery, he was bleeding really badly. They couldn't get it all out and if he lost any more blood, he would have needed a blood transfusion. If they kept trying to get the cyst out, they may have blinded or paralyzed him.

Martin asked what the next course of action was. They told him medication should get rid of the rest. It was almost golf ball size, after 3 months it was the size of a baby's finger, then after 6 months, it disappeared.

There is still a tiny bit of the tumor left, the medication keeps his prolactin countdown, (prolactin caused the tumor), so it is not growing anymore. Martin worries a little but has decided not to let it worry him and live life as it never will.

After and beyond

He went to Africa on a tour with a friend. He did an Iceland tour, with a German friend who lives in Iceland. A year after he made two of his bucket list ideas.

It has not slowed him down and probably made him stronger. I think Martin is very positive and strong. He calls himself an eternal optimist.

He still gets anxious, when he has his yearly checkups until he sees that there is nothing there. But he tries to stay positive.

Rather than changing him, this experience just gave him a deeper appreciation of life.  The fact that we are here at this present time is a miracle in itself.

Africa

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