British swimmer diagnosed with inoperable brain tumours

British swimmer Archie Goodburn has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with inoperable brain tumors.

The 23-year-old from Edinburgh began experiencing numbness and seizures leading up to the Olympic trials, where he narrowly missed qualifying.

Subsequent tests revealed three large oligodendrogliomas, a rare type of cancer that affects the brain and spinal cord.

Due to the nature of the tumors, surgery is not an option. Goodburn will now undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy to try to treat them.

“Six weeks ago, my life experienced a profound change as I was diagnosed with three brain tumours,” he wrote on his Instagram.

“In December 2023, my training began to be interrupted by strange episodes. These episodes, initially thought to be hemiplegic migraines, would occur during hard training.

“They would leave me with a loss of strength and a numb sensation on my left side, a deep feeling of fear, nausea and extreme deja vu. I now know that these were in fact seizures.

“With the trials behind me, I dug deeper into what was really causing these attacks. An MRI in May finally revealed what I’d begun to fear the most.”

Goodburn represented Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and won bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships.

He said he would now be undergoing medical treatment to try and combat the tumours.

“The silver lining to this diagnosis is that oligodendrogliomas generally respond better to radiotherapy and chemotherapy than many other serious brain tumour types,” he said.

“I am young, I am fit, I have the most phenomenal support network of friends, the best family I could ever hope for and a fantastic girlfriend by my side.

“I am determined to take this head-on, to remain positive and to keep being Archie.”