Defying the odds
The saying what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger rings a little too true for Tim Brew.
Hailing from Trawool in Victoria, it is hard to comprehend upon meeting the fit, positive and enthusiastic Tim that he is battling death for the third time in his life. Stopping off in Tumut last Friday at the tail end of an almost 800km bike ride to raise money for the Cure for Life Foundation, Tim is hoping to raise $9000 that will go towards helping the financing of research into brain tumours. It has been 20 months since Tim was diagnosed with a grade four Glioblastoma Multiform brain tumour.
Twenty months since his own and his wife, Stephanie’s, world has been turned on its side. But he is alive, his tumour is shrinking and if anyone has the 2 per cent chance of surviving the brain tumour, it is Tim. The first signs that something was wrong occurred when Tim was cheering Samantha Stoser on in the US Open in October 2011. “My hands were shaking, but I just put it down to drinking too much coffee at first,” Tim said. “Steph is a nurse so she told me to go and get it checked out. My doctor booked me in for an MRI scan scheduled for a month later.”
During the four weeks that Tim had to wait, he started to notice various pains in his body and knew something was not right. The fact that Tim was sent for a scan was not the usual procedure, but due to a medical history that includes a severe head injury, his GP was not taking any chances. Tim's first brush with death was when he was an 18-month-old boy. A saucepan of boiling water drenched the infants chest with Tim receiving life threatening third degree burns to the front area of his body.
His strong nature and will to survive surfaced for the first time at such a tender age, ingraining itself in his very being and laying dormant in wait for other challenges life would throw his way. As a fit 27-year-old training as an Australian rowing champion for the Olympics, a cruel blow of fate would see Tim once again battling for his life. “I was hit by a car in Adelaide and received extensive head injuries,” Tim said. “A New York neurosurgeon who was in town for a conference treated me and saved my life.”
Tim's Olympic dreams were over and after a long three years of recovery, it was on with life once more. Having endured what he has to date has not made Tim, nor Steph, bitter or angry. It has spurred them on to embrace life to the fullest and to try and educate and help others. With only three days between the MRI that uncovered a growth the size of a grapefruit in the right side of his brain and surgeons operating on him, Tim had little time for pondering. “It was straight to Melbourne the day after the scan then slice and diced on the Monday,” Tim said. “I have had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The tumour was a grade four, which is not good, and they took that out but there was a remaining bank of grade two and three growths because that part was in too deep.”
It has been 12 months since Tim finished his treatment and his three monthly MRI's are showing that the remaining tumour is continuing to shrink. Defying the odds again, a lifestyle of clean eating, exercise and positive thinking is having amazing results for the 48-year-old. “When I was told that 98 per cent of people don't recover and people usually only live between six weeks and 18 months, I decided to take it on myself,” he said. “People say I’m lucky to be so fit, positive and lowstress, but I think all those things don’t cost you anything, so why isn’t everyone like that? “If attitude is such a big part of it, you’ve got to get on with it and I want to share what I've been doing with others as it works.”
The recurring theme when talking about brain tumours is most people don’t know they have them until it is too late. Tim sees a small light at the end of the tunnel for the disease with renowned neurosurgeon, Charlie Teo, vowing to work towards establishing a brain tumour alliance that would pool international theories, treatments and research to help pave a more positive future for those diagnosed with brain tumours. For Tim, being in a good brain space and creating an environment within his body that is not conducive to cancer cell growth has been an essential survival tool. “My doctors say I am smashing all expectations,” Tim said.
“Clean healthy living really helps. Oxygen to the brain is like water to the desert, and cancer doesn’t survive in oxygen or alkaline rich environments. “So I exercise to improve the oxygen flow around my body and eat foods that keep my body alkaline.” As a professional rower, an athlete and keen cyclist, exercising was already second nature for Tim so during each round of chemotherapy he ensured he was on the bike and giving his body a hand. Weekly acupuncture, supplements, Acai berry and cell foods to keep on the alkaline side are all contributing to Tim still being alive and fighting the cancer.
In his last week of chemotherapy Tim rode 350km and whilst he agrees it isn't something everyone is able to do whilst receiving treatment, it is a method that is helping him beat the odds. “I do believe what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and having experienced the events through my life that I've had to overcome certainly proves this,” Tim said. I don’t think why me as I would rather have it than Steph or my friends. “Life is just a collection of stories, it is about sharing your story and the love to help others. I do that with third degree burns patients and hopefully cancer sufferers can get something from my results too.
“Hopefully I beat the cancer and that will be a real inspiration for others. I want to keep living.” Tim is hopeful that brain cancer will one day, under the guidance of Charlie Teo, receive the same attention as breast and prostate cancer treatment campaigns. On his ride he has so far raised just over $8000 for research and with any luck also raised awareness of the disease along the way.
To donate support Tim's quest and to Cure for Life Foundation, please hop online at www.everydayheroes.com.au and search for Tim Brew.
Donations are tax deductible. Defying the odds Kirsty Roche Tim Brew in Tumut as part of his ride to raise funds for brain tumours.