Dad who felt ‘tingles’ in his left arm for months died just days after receiving diagnosis
A DAD who felt “tingles” in his left arm for months passed away just eight days after discovering their true cause.
Headteacher David Bicker-Caarten, 55, put his tingly arm and numb fingers down to the stress of starting a new job.
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But he decided to make an appointment at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shropshire in July 2024 for an MRI.
David didn’t hear back for a month and became “unsteady on his feet” as the days went on.
On July 29, still waiting for his results, dad-of-three David suddenly fell unwell – and his wife, Clare, 55, drove him back to A&E, where he underwent a series of tests for disorders like multiple sclerosis.
His symptoms progressed and the headteacher started feeling unsteady on his feet, nauseous and had a pain in his neck.
Read more on glioblastomas
He was admitted back to hospital on August 29, with his care team suspecting liver failure.
But on October 5, 2024, a new MRI and biopsy showed David had four end-stage glioblastoma brain tumours.
With glioblastoma being one of the deadliest kinds of brain tumours, the family were told David would not live to see Christmas.
He died just eight days later on October 13.
Now Clare and their three children – Paige, 25, Mary, 23 and Guy, 21 – are preparing to run the London Marathon in David’s memory, raising money for Brain Tumour Research.
Clare, a senior negotiator, from Ludlow, Shropshire, said: “It was absolutely devastating – we just couldn’t believe it.
“Had we known exactly what was going on earlier, we could’ve brought him home; we could’ve had family over.
“David’s oncology team were fantastic, but so soon after his diagnosis, they were telling us there was nothing they could do.
“He wouldn’t see Christmas.”
In early 2024, David had started a new job as headteacher in an independent school – a role he called “very stressful”.
By July, he’d developed a tingling sensation in his left arm, which led to numbness in his fingers, but he put it down to work pressures.
He decided to make an appointment at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in the first week of July – “just to be on the safe side” – and was referred for an MRI.
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But, Clare says, he didn’t hear back about his results for a month – and the pair assumed it was nothing serious.
“At the end of July, he really became unwell,” Clare said.
“He was sweating and very unsteady on his feet.”
She drove David to A&E on July 29, where doctors gave him the results of his MRI.
They said he had a small lesion on his brain – but they couldn’t work out what had caused it.
David was admitted to hospital for 10 days and underwent a series of rigorous tests – like lumbar punctures – to rule out conditions like MS.
“They couldn’t find anything, so they said they’d refer him to the Royal Stoke Hospital,” Clare said.
“But while we were waiting to hear back, he became unwell again – very unsteady on his feet and very nauseous.
“He was really uncomfortable.”
Fighting for answers
Exactly one month after driving him to A&E, Clare made the decision to take David straight to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, where he was admitted immediately.
His care team suspected David might be suffering from liver failure, and he stayed on the gastroenterology ward for four weeks.
Clare says she was “doubtful” and kept flagging David’s earlier MRI results – showing his brain lesion – to his consultants.
She said she worried he had a cyst or infection on his brain, which could have been causing his symptoms.
At the end of September 2024, David’s consultant said he’d do a biopsy.
It feels like his diagnosis was left too late – it was a constant fight to be told things
Clare
“David was taken down to theatre the following morning and put under,” Clare said.
“But they decided – before going ahead with surgery – to do some new scans, which he had the following day.
“They discovered he had four aggressive glioblastoma tumours on his brain, including down the base of his spine.”
On October 5, a biopsy confirmed the tumours were stage four and inoperable.
David was referred to Stoke’s oncology team, but on October 11 he was told he was too ill to undergo chemotherapy, and the team was going to focus on giving him end-of-life care instead.
Just two days later, on October 13, David died in hospital.
Clare said: “All the way through, it was just awful.
“It feels like his diagnosis was left too late – it was a constant fight to be told things.”
‘Something positive’
In order to turn David’s ordeal into “something positive”, Clare, Paige, Mary and Guy will be running the London Marathon, in an effort to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.
Clare has been training from scratch, and says all her hard work will be “worth it”.
“It’s gruelling – I’ve never run in my life,” she said.
“I know I’m going to be running at the back with the people in the dino costumes, but it’s given me a plan, and something to work towards.
What are the symptoms of glioblastoma and how soon do they show?
Glioblastomas are the most common brain tumour in adults, while also being very aggressive and deadly.
Brain Tumour Research says tumours increase pressure in the skull, causing headaches.
Symptoms to look for are:
- Headaches
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea and vomiting
- Loss of balance
- Mood swings
- Problems speaking
- Problems with memory or concentration
- Seizures
- Impaired vision
The symptoms can initially be quite non-specific, meaning they could be mistaken for lots of other conditions- even stress or a hangover.
The brain controls so many different functions that symptoms can vary greatly depending on where in the brain the tumour is.
Glioblastomas are very fast growing. Once found, experts can see them double within seven weeks.
But, according to Dr Stephen Bagley, assistant professor of medicine at Penn Medicine, the first spark of glioblastoma in the brain remains something of a mystery to medical experts.
One study concluded that a glioblastoma starts growing 330 days on average – almost a year – before a diagnosis.
Another found that there are changes in immune function up to five years before a diagnosis, with markers in blood samples – but symptoms only occur three months prior.
“Glioblastoma is the deadliest type of brain cancer anyone can get – there needs to be more funding for it.”
Pascale Harvie, president and general manager at JustGiving, said: “I was incredibly moved by Clare’s fundraising efforts in memory of her husband David.
“Clare and her children have raised a significant amount of money for the Brain Tumour Research charity, and we wish all four of them the very best for the London Marathon in April.”
The Bicker-Caarten family’s fundraiser can be found here.