Paralympian rower David Smith also had personality changes before emergency surgery
A Paralympian who put his blurred vision down to watching too much TV was diagnosed with a brain tumour. David Smith, 47, initially dismissed his blurred vision and fatigue and put it down to spending lots of time watching TV at home after breaking his ribs.
David assumed he just needed glasses and the tiredness was his body trying to heal. But after returning from a holiday in Jamaica, family became concerned that he was “withdrawn from the world” unlike his usual bubbly self.
His friends noticed he was becoming short-tempered, withdrawn and lacking the logic he usually had. David went to Chelsea hospital and an emergency CT scan revealed three brain tumours on his brain.
He was immediately rushed for a six-hour surgery to remove a tumour the size of an orange and has since had another life-saving surgery to relieve fluid build-up on his brain. Doctors have said the tumours are benign, but David is undergoing radiotherapy to shrink the other two tumours.
David, a British Paralympic champion rower, from Chelsea, said: “It wasn’t until I came home from being in Jamaica that my body really started to turn. On October 9, I took very unwell in London and have no real memory of the time.
“I was incredibly lucky to have family with me who noticed something was seriously wrong and got me into hospital. I was just not me at all, I started to recognise that. I was impulsive and so easily frustrated.
“The tumour basically invaded the space where emotion and logic come in to play, so that voice when you walk down a dark alley and think ‘this isn’t safe’ just wasn’t there at all. A quick scan later, a doctor sat me down and said the words – ‘you have three tumours inside your brain one of them is bigger than an orange’. I still can’t process that I flew home from Jamaica with that in my head, or that I could have died at any moment when I was out playing golf in Aviemore.”
David has been fighting a tumour on his spine – located behind his Adam’s apple – since 2010. He was diagnosed with a solid fibrous tumour, a rare tumour that targets soft tissue and, while it was benign, it turns out it had metastasized.
This meant the cells remaining from the tumour had broken off into the bloodstream and made their way to David’s brain. David started getting blurred vision, fatigue and a sore head in August 2025. He dismissed it until family pushed him to go to the doctor in October.
David said: “I could feel myself losing my hold on life and on October 10, I went in for my first brain surgery at Queen Square to remove the tumour. Five days later, I needed a second surgery to save my life from fluid blockages.”
He suffered short-term memory loss and speech problems due to his surgery. He was told this was due to the part of the brain the tumour existed in, which grew and compressed his frontal lobe – dedicated to personality, emotion and general logic.
David said he would be spending the rest of his life in check-ups, radiotherapy and potential operations, depending on success rates in removing any signs of tumours. He spent eight days in hospital before coming home with wife Angela, 45, to recover on October 16.
He said: “Those early days were a blur. I couldn’t make decisions or understand what was happening and was completely exhausted, but I was surrounded by loved ones who stepped in and carried me through it. Recovery on the ward was hard and the nights even longer, but I’ve felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for life more than ever before.
“I lay awake reflecting on everything I’ve lived, in case it was all about to end. My biggest takeaway is my friends. That’s what matters most to me and it’s what helped me the most the last few weeks. Growing up in the Highlands, being connected to Scotland the people, the mountains, the nature, the community all of it has filled me with joy and strength.”
After a week at home he took his first walk outside.
David said: “It is hard for me because I know how I am going to die. My brain tumour keeps coming back.”
David’s brain tumour is at stage 2, but with a 15-year battle of tumours returning, he knows his journey is far from over.
He said: “When you get diagnosed, there is no coping strategy, they might give you some time, or show you the research, but there is no therapy, no help. I have good friends and family, but I don’t let them become my carers – there are therapists for that and I just want to enjoy my time with them.
“It makes my coffee in the morning taste different. I know I am alive and I know I would have died if it wasn’t for the doctors. You just have to turn your perspective around, appreciate the time you have left, and really see the beauty in life.”
