Friends of a Lanarkshire high school pupil battling a rare form of brain cancer have shown their support with a charity football match.
Fraser McAllister says his world fell apart when he was diagnosed with an anaplastic glioneuronal tumour two years ago.
After experiencing months of headaches and debilitating symptoms where the 18-year-old felt like his head was "going to blow up," he and his family were given the devastating news he had cancer.
But it was back in 2018 when the Hamilton College pupil first realised something wasn't right.
"I noticed I was dizzy, but only when I looked up," Fraser told Lanarkshire Live. "There was no real explanation given and it was put down to my age.
"In August 2019, I started to be sick intermittently, only in the morning, and also had stomach pains only in the morning.
"By November 2019, symptoms were more persistent and I was referred to ENT and gastroenterology, but they couldn’t find anything wrong."
Fraser's symptoms would go on to settle before his headaches returned at the start of the first lockdown.
And they were to get worse, prompting further tests that only served to rule out stomach problems.
He added: "I was in a lot of pain and eventually had severe pressure in my head that didn’t ease - I also nearly fell in the house.
"My head felt like it was going to blow up, my mobility was reduced, and we headed to hospital. All the time I was getting worse.
"After initially thinking it was meningitis, my mobility was still rapidly deteriorating, and the doctor said a brain MRI was needed.
"The following day my world fell apart. The MRI showed a tumour, fluid in the brain, and my brain was swollen. Everything happened so quickly.
"My mum was told I was seriously ill.
"I was transferred immediately to the Neurology building of the Queen Elizabeth.
"I didn’t have a minute to think. Speech and language checked my swallow, that wasn’t good. It was like everything was ceasing to work.
"It was frightening."
After just four days in hospital, Fraser - from Waterfoot in East Renfrewshire - was taken for surgery where a drain was put into his head.
The teenager says a lot of the pressure seemed to have gone afterwards and five days later he was operated on again to remove the tumour.
He was in theatre for nearly 11 hours because of complications - the following day he was back in theatre to have a tracheostomy fitted.
Determined to fight his illness, Fraser said: "I had a bad couple of weeks after the main operation, but I never gave up, even though I couldn’t move my body."
The brave schoolboy was given a bed at the Physically Disabled Rehabilitation Unit (PDRU) at the Queen Elizabeth in January last year.
For a brief period, he was confined to a wheelchair, but his stay was cut short as he was required to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
However amazingly, he was able to walk out on his final day with the help of a four-wheeler support aid.
As part of his treatment, Fraser had to travel to Paris to access a trial drug only available in the EU. He now wants to raise the profile of this treatment to help others.
Since his gruelling ordeal, he has taken it upon himself to research treatments for brain tumours like his.
He become aware of the trial drug called ONC201 which is not yet available in the UK, but he hopes it will be soon as despite not being a cure, it's reported to have very good results.
Fraser added: "I am hoping this drug will be available in the UK soon so that other young people like me can get it.
"It is 18 months on from my operation and I push myself every single day and will never stop until I am able to do all the things I could do before my surgery.
"I would like to thank the medical teams in the Neurobiology and PDRU departments at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, The Beatson and the Hospital Gustave Roussy in Paris."
With the help of Fraser's school community in Hamilton, an amazing £6032.38 was raised for the Beatson Cancer Charity which funds research into rare brain tumours in young people.
On Friday's charity football match, the teams were named Mighty McAllister FC v FC Fraser Warriors and the match end 3-2 in favour of Mighty McAllister FC.
A signed Manager jacket, signed by all the players was presented to Fraser at the end of the game, and fundraising was made up of a collection, a tuck shop and online donations.
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
