Just nine months after being given the all-clear from bowel cancer, Phil Edmondson was given the shattering news that he had less than 18 months to live – the disease was back, but this time in his brain.
After initially dismissing his early symptoms as ‘clumsiness’, Mr Edmondson, 39, and his wife, Natalie, who live in the Lake District, Cumbria, are now facing the devastating likelihood that their two young children will grow up without a father.
In April 2025, lorry driver Mr Edmondson began losing feeling in his right hand.
‘It started with him dropping things more than usual,’ Mrs Edmondson recalls. ‘Then he kept getting pins and needles. We thought it might just be from driving all day.’
Concerned, he booked an appointment with his GP. He was referred for a CT scan and an MRI in late May, which revealed a tumour on the left side of his brain.
Two weeks later, a biopsy was carried out to confirm the diagnosis and determine a treatment plan.
On July 3, 2025, Mr Edmondson was told he had a primary grade four glioblastoma — an aggressive and malignant brain tumour that cannot safely be removed through surgery.
‘It was a huge shock for all of us,’ says Mrs Edmondson. ‘Especially considering we have two children under five.’
Phil and Natalie Edmondson are pictured with their two young children, aged four and 18 months
The diagnosis came just a year after he was told he had bowel cancer, for which he was given the all clear in October 2024.
‘He was just getting back to normal — playing football again and doing the things he loves — and then everything changed,’ she says.
A lifelong football player who trained three times a week, Mr Edmondson now struggles with weakness down his right side and can only manage the occasional fundraising match.
With his mobility affected, he is no longer able to work or drive, and even simple daily tasks have become challenging.
‘You don’t realise how often you use your dominant hand until you can’t,’ his wife says. ‘Even making a sandwich or filling our little one’s milk bottle can be frustrating because it’s so much harder for him now.’
Mrs Edmondson is speaking out on her husband’s behalf as she is campaigning for greater awareness and funding for research into the devastating disease, which according to figures released by Cancer Research UK, affects 13,000 people in the UK every year.
The charity also reports that over 5,400 people lose their lives to a brain tumour annually in the UK.
Treatment for brain tumours typically involves surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, due to the size and location of Mr Edmondson’s tumour, surgeons have ruled out an operation.
Thanks to the support of his consultant, Mr Edmondson is receiving an immunotherapy drug as part of a clinical trial. But access to these sorts of cutting edge treatments is tightly restricted, and many patients do not meet the strict eligibility criteria.
High-grade brain tumours such as glioblastoma carry a bleak prognosis. Around 87 per cent of patients diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour die within five years
Despite this, brain tumours receive just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research in the UK — a figure that has remained largely unchanged for more than two decades, even though the disease is the leading cause of cancer deaths in children and adults under 40.
‘Because of the lack of government funding, there are limited treatment options,’ says Mrs Edmondson.
The couple are now campaigning for greater awareness and funding for research into the devastating disease
‘Compared to our experience with Phil’s bowel cancer, there are far fewer choices for brain tumour patients.
‘There’s also a shortage of neurologists and neurosurgeons, and in our area, there is very limited specialist treatment.
‘We have to travel to Lancashire every day for six weeks for radiotherapy. It’s a three-hour round trip. That’s exhausting for someone going through treatment.
‘When he had bowel cancer, everything was handled locally. It’s very different this time.’
Despite the devastating prognosis, the couple are determined to remain hopeful for the sake of their sons, aged four and 18 months.
‘He’s incredibly resilient and has such a positive attitude,’ she says. ‘We’re not sitting around moping. We’re trying to stay upbeat, keep doing normal things, and keep life as stable as possible for the children.
‘Some people are given 12 to 18 months and they’re still here 10 years later. With brain tumours, things can change quickly, and you don’t know when they might progress.
Natalie says she is trying to keep things as ‘normal as possible’ for their two young boys
‘If you didn’t take each day as it comes, you’d spend your life constantly worried and scared. We don’t want that.’
For now, their eldest son simply knows that ‘Daddy has to go to the hospital’.
‘They’re still so young,’ she says. ‘We don’t go into more detail than that.’
The couple are backing a petition calling on the government to invest more in brain cancer research. The petition, which closes on March 8, has already surpassed 100,000 signatures — meaning it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
They have also received support from public figures, including Davina McCall, Frank Bruno and Piers Morgan, who have shared their campaign on social media.
But Mrs Edmondson says they will not stop pushing for change.
‘The next step is to keep pressing our MPs and raising awareness,’ she says. ‘Brain cancer research needs to be taken seriously.’
And in the meantime, she adds, the focus remains simple.
‘You’ve just got to throw everything at it.
‘We don’t know what the future holds. But right now, we’re focusing on making memories with our boys.’