- Paul Fletcher, 59, was driving to a cleaning job when he made a few wrong turns — forgetful moments that his wife Jo says they initially “laughed off”
- Two days later, he suddenly collapsed; it was the first of four seizures that caused him to be placed in a medically induced coma
- Fletcher was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer; now the couple is ready for “the biggest fight of our lives”
A father of two initially “laughed off” a series of memory lapses, like wrong turns and leaving things behind, that took place over a single day in February. But 24 hours later, he collapsed in his kitchen — the start of a bleak medical journey that would leave him with 14 months left to live.
Paul Fletcher, 59, who owns a cleaning company, was driving to a job on Feb. 6 when he “missed the turning,” his wife Jo, 51, said, according to The Daily Mail. When he missed another turn, she says he thought it was “weird.”
Then, “he thought his briefcase had been stolen as it wasn’t where he’d put it, but he found it was still in his office.”
Paul Fletcher with his wife Jo.
Jo Fletcher / SWNS
However, Jo tells the outlet that they didn’t think anything of his forgetfulness — until the following day.
Paul was in his kitchen in the English village of Brimscombe when he suddenly had a “vacant” expression on his face, before collapsing into a seizure. His son Jack, 21, called for help, and as Jo says of her husband, “There was blood coming out of his mouth.”
It was the first of four seizures Paul would have before paramedics arrived and placed him in a medically induced coma, Jo says. “It was really scary. All things go through your mind,” she says. “A stroke, a heart attack.”
Paul Fletcher after brain surgery.
Jo Fletcher / SWNS
But when they arrived at the hospital, scans diagnosed Paul with brain cancer — specifically, glioblastoma. It’s a “devastating” cancer that starts in your brain and spinal cord, the Cleveland Clinic explains, adding there’s ”no cure for the condition and the prognosis isn’t good.” That’s because glioblastoma cancer cells grow rapidly, and without treatment, can cause the patient’s death within six months.
Paul had two tumors and was given 14 months to live, a prognosis Jo describes as “horrendous.”
“We were so shocked and horrified,” she told the outlet. “When we heard it was terminal, it was an out-of-body experience.”
Paul Fletcher’s scars from brain surgery.
Jo Fletcher / SWNS
On February 20 — just two weeks after his forgetful day — Paul underwent a three-hour operation on his brain. Doctors were able to remove one tumor, and are hoping chemotherapy and radiation will help treat the other one.
The couple is raising money for the Brain Tumor Charity, and in the meantime, Jo praised her husband, calling him ‘a very strong warrior.”
“We’re doing the keto diet, we’re exercising,” she said. “We go for daily walks, have good food, no sugar.” As they explain in the fundraiser: “Cancer may have entered our lives, but it will not define us. It will not stop us from fighting the hardest fight of our lives.”
