In 2022, 19 year-old Ekam Dhaliwal was a football-loving, sports science student at Coventry University.<\/p>\n
He had been experiencing some dizziness and was told it was vertigo, but decided to get some tests done just to be sure.<\/p>\n
The day after having an MRI he got a phone call telling him to go to hospital immediately. On arrival a doctor told him that although he had walked in, he may not be able to walk out. He had a brain tumour.<\/p>\n
“That’s when I knew about the severity of it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“When they first called me, I was a bit in shock, I had invincible syndrome: ‘Nothing can happen to me’,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The fact that I was running rings around people at football, I’m being so athletic… you don’t really think a tumour or anything of that severity can happen to you.”<\/p>\n
The tumour was a benign ependymoma<\/a>, which are quite rare.<\/p>\n Dhaliwal then had a couple of operations at a hospital in Oxford.<\/p>\n The first was to help the flow of fluid in his brain.<\/p>\n “During that period I was completely ok, I was walking around doing everything I probably shouldn’t have done.”<\/p>\n “I went to football a couple of times\u2026 I only played like five minutes.”<\/p>\n The second operation was to remove the tumour. After it, he could not walk or talk.<\/p>\n “My mum said when she first saw me, she was worried I wasn’t going to remember her,” he said.<\/p>\n People not being able to understand him was frustrating, he said.<\/p>\n “I communicated through hand signals, facial expressions, body language,” he said.<\/p>\n Speech and language therapy followed, as well as physiotherapy, both in the hospital and at home.<\/p>\n “One thing that definitely helped me was that my parents were so on top of it\u2026 they encouraged me to get back on a level of being independent again.<\/p>\n “That was about six weeks, to kind of get me up to a basic level where I was able to at least communicate.”<\/p>\n Now he struggles to play football and be as fit as he was before, as his coordination and balance does not allow him to run.<\/p>\n “One thing that’s been a great help to me is going to the gym, trying to keep as fit and active as possible.”<\/p>\n Dhaliwal was a sports therapist for BBC CWR’s 25-mile, three-legged Children in Need challenge<\/a> in November, offering therapy and support.<\/p>\n “When it’s for Children in Need, it’s such a great cause\u2026 if I can help someone make an impact then that’s perfect,” he said.<\/p>\n His is also back at university.<\/p>\n “I know it’s kind of a clich\u00e9, but wanting to help people is my ultimate motivation.<\/p>\n “I’ve been through such a time, I wanted to get back and help people.”<\/p>\n In the future, he has his sights set on a masters in physiotherapy.<\/p>\n “One thing I really want to do is go on to neurological physiotherapy,” he said.<\/p>\n Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n More on this storyRelated internet links