Family man sentenced after doctors mistake his illness for anxiety

It all started in 2020 for Robin Hendley. At the time, this 45 year old family man is a fulfilled driving instructor in his profession and his personal life. Outside of working hours, he goes to the gym”six times a week” and is found in very good physical shape. However, it will begin to feel a lot of painas reported MyLondon in an article published on Friday, September 30.

Indeed, the man who lives in Uxbridge, UK, will start waking up at night with heart palpitationstinnitus, problems with vision and severe headaches. “I had this feeling of ‘imminent doom’ when I went to bed at night thinking I was going to die because I had a heart attack” he revealed. Very quickly, he turns to his doctor who will diagnose him with anxiety for over a year. But for Robin Hendley, something is wrong and he explains: “I knew it was more than anxiety, I knew I had something wrong with my head“.

The anxious father actually had an aggressive brain tumor

After a year of doubts, Robin Hendley will insist on do an MRI. In October 2021, he will learn with horror that his worrying symptoms actually hide a growth of about five centimeters on the left temporal lobe of his brain. Doctors tell him he has grade 4 glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain tumor. He is then given a life expectancy of 12 months, a shock for the sportsman who declared: “The doctors told me there was no way it was cancer because I was fit and healthy. I was in tears“.

Very quickly, the father of the family will undergo a surgical intervention at Charing Cross Hospital to try to remove a good part of the tumour. Then follow six intense weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The 45-year-old man then lost his job and all hope of surviving, until the discovery of another treatment in a specialized center in Cologne (Germany). A real hope for Robin Hendley who is now trying to raise 230,000 euros to finance the treatments that could save his life.