Dad-of-three, 45, given cancer all clear and told to ‘pop the Champagne’ – then rediagnosed with brain lesion days later
A father-of-three given the all clear from cancer before doctors found a new lesion on his brain days later, has said all he can do is “try and stay strong”.
Darren Gooch, 45, who lives in Sutton, London, with his wife, Kelly, 40, an assistant manager, and their three children Faith, 18, Daley, 14, and Teddy, two, began having seizures in the summer of 2023.
After experiencing behavioural changes, memory loss and night sweats, he decided to liquidate his gas business and the family had to rely on his wife’s part-time wage.
Four months on, Darren was told he was cancer free and “couldn’t believe it”.
But just over a week later, he had another two seizures while in hospital and was told he had a new lesion on his brain and the primary CNS lymphoma had returned.
Darren is still trying to process the news, but believes having a “laugh about something” or doing “something enjoyable” is what made him “beat cancer the first time”, so is determined to “do it again”.
“Cancer doesn’t care about anyone. You know, it doesn’t matter what race you are, it doesn’t matter how old you are.
On July 20 2023, Darren had two seizures while asleep in bed – something he had never experienced before – and was rushed to St Helier Hospital where doctors spent three weeks conducting tests.
When he arrived home, his condition worsened and he began experiencing behavioural changes, memory loss and night sweats.
“I’d wake up in the morning and it was like I got someone to chuck a bucket of water over the bed.
“It made me a really, really, really horrible, nasty person – I’ve never been like that in my life.”
He said: “It got to the point where I couldn’t even walk or think, so there was no point in me keeping the business running.
“I couldn’t provide for the family like what I always did so that was quite devastating for the family as well, because they relied on me – I get really emotional about that and cry every day.”
He said: “I went from walking around and thinking everything is fine, to a massive shock where everything changes – your whole perception on life just changes.
“My family were mortified – I think they thought ‘Why us?’.
After four months of gruelling chemotherapy treatment, he was told he was cancer free.
“I was like, ‘OK, well that’s amazing’ – at the time I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“They (the doctors) said to go home and celebrate and open up a bottle of Champagne, but don’t drink it to excess.”
Darren said: “I still kind of haven’t processed it… so it’s really worrying.
“I never believed I was cancer free, I was always sceptical, but my family were so happy for me and thought we could get our life back together.
“My sister has set up a GoFundMe for me to help raise awareness and help us be able to afford our mortgage – I didn’t ask her to do it or say how much we needed – but it shows there are still good people in the world.”
Looking to the future, Darren said: “With my job, you have to be on the ball all the time, and now I might never be on the ball again.
“I don’t know what the future holds because I’ve still got to have some tests… I’ve got to the point where I have to just do a day at a time and still just try to do something enjoyable and laugh about something.
“That’s basically what’s got me through because I feel like I beat cancer the first time by doing things like that, so I can do it again.”
To donate to Darren’s GoFundMe, visit: gofundme.com/f/our-brothers-battle-with-brain-cancer