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Couple who ran country house in Dunkeld will share ‘last Christmas’ together after brain tumour diagnosis

Dan Potts and his wife Liah fear this could be their last Christmas together. Image: Brain Tumour Research
Dan Potts and his wife Liah fear this could be their last Christmas together. Image: Brain Tumour Research

A man with a terminal brain tumour is preparing to spend his “last Christmas” with his wife.

Dan Potts, 46, and his wife Liah, 26, were apart last Christmas as he prepared for  craniotomy surgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Dan suffered agonising headaches and weakness for two years before finally being diagnosed with glioblastoma last December.

At first Dan was told the symptoms were caused by a pinched nerve.

Now, as the couple face what could be their last Christmas together, they are crowdfunding for Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease.

Dan and Liah Potts. Image: Brain Tumour Research

Dan says: “We think this Christmas may be our last together, so we just want to have Christmas dinner and spend some quality time together.”

The couple, who lived in Dunkeld, Perthshire and ran the Dungarthill House Estate for a year, were apart last December when Dan was in Ninewells.

‘Trying to be as positive as possible’

“We both love Christmas, but we were apart last year because I was in intensive care so Christmas was cancelled,” he explains.

“It’s tough but we’re both facing this head-on and trying to be as positive as possible.”

Dan and Liah met while working at Oykel Bridge Hotel in Sutherland near to where she grew up.

Dan was in Ninewells last December. Image: DC Thomson.

He started getting headaches and weakness down the right-side of his body in December 2018.

After an MRI scan at Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey, where he was living at the time, he was told a pinched nerve was causing the problems.

Three MRI scans before diagnosis

Six months later, the pain had become “unbearable” but after another MRI scan Dan was again told he had a pinched nerve.

After a third scan in December 2021, he was diagnosed with a glioblastoma.

“I was told it was terminal and any treatment would just be to try to prolong my life because there was no cure,” he says.

“This was on an open hospital ward with no privacy, which was not very nice. I was crying; I just didn’t expect news like that. The average survival time is just 12-18 months which is devastating.”

Dan says treatment hasn’t changed in 20 years and he wants to raise awareness. Image: Brain Tumour Research

Dan had a craniotomy at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on December 29, 2021.

The procedure “went well” but he now has epilepsy and is on four different types of anti-seizure medication.

He has undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and has just finished a six-month course of a higher dose of chemotherapy.

Dan, who now lives in Cumbria, says: “It’s so important to raise as much money and awareness of brain tumours.

“There is such a lack of funding, and the treatment hasn’t changed in over 20 years. That has got to change.”

‘Progress research into brain tumours’

Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research says: “We are so sorry to hear of Dan’s diagnosis.

“We are really grateful to him and Liah for crowdfunding for us, as it’s only with the support of people like them that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours and improve the outcome for patients like Dan who are forced to fight this awful disease.”

To donate to the Dan and Liah’s JustGiving page, click here.

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