Daughter of 'ticking time bomb' dad who died two months after brain tumour diagnosis in bid to raise awareness

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A woman from North Lanarkshire whose 'ticking time bomb' dad died just two months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour is taking part in a special football challenge to raise awareness of the disease.

Michelle Sexton, 41, was left 'devastated' when her father, Thomas Sexton, from Coatbridge, passed away at the age of 74 from a pituitary adenoma in November 2019.

To mark the third anniversary of his death, Michelle is taking on the One Million Keepy Uppy Challenge for Brain Tumour Research to draw attention to the life-threatening condition - including the symptoms to look out for.Michelle said: “I was told Dad was a walking time bomb and would have had the brain tumour for years without knowing.“The tumour was on dad's pituitary gland and it was massive.

He was referred to University Hospital Hairmyres in Glasgow where a CT scan confirmed he had a brain tumour. It was devastating and I didn’t know what would happen.”Thomas had suffered “a few falls” in August 2019 but it was only when he went for an eye test in September that an optometrist found a mass behind his left eye.In October that year, the pensioner underwent surgery at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to remove the tumour.Despite the operation “going well” and Thomas “coming on leaps and bounds”, he suffered a massive stroke on November 11, 2019 and died in hospital.Michelle says she and her dad shared a close bond over the beautiful game, and as a result, decided the One Million Keepy Uppy Challenge, which starts on Friday, November 18, was the perfect way to pay tribute to her old man.The challenge encourages people to complete 10,000 keepy-uppies towards the one million target – the number being symbolic as it costs £1million to fund a