Chloe Hughes,West Midlandsand
John Dalziel,BBC CWR
Ekam Dhaliwal
Ekam Dhaliwal had two brain operations after doctors found a tumour
In 2022, 19 year-old Ekam Dhaliwal was a football-loving, sports science student at Coventry University.
He had been experiencing some dizziness and was told it was vertigo, but decided to get some tests done just to be sure.
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.
“That’s when I knew about the severity of it,” he said.
“When they first called me, I was a bit in shock, I had invincible syndrome: ‘Nothing can happen to me’,” he said.
“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.”
Ekam Dhaliwal
He said his parents helped him keep up his therapy after the operations and time in hospital
The tumour was a benign ependymoma, which are quite rare.
Dhaliwal then had a couple of operations at a hospital in Oxford.
The first was to help the flow of fluid in his brain.
“During that period I was completely ok, I was walking around doing everything I probably shouldn’t have done.”
“I went to football a couple of times… I only played like five minutes.”
The second operation was to remove the tumour. After it, he could not walk or talk.
“My mum said when she first saw me, she was worried I wasn’t going to remember her,” he said.
Ekam Dhaliwal
The scar from Dhaliwal’s surgery
People not being able to understand him was frustrating, he said.
“I communicated through hand signals, facial expressions, body language,” he said.
Speech and language therapy followed, as well as physiotherapy, both in the hospital and at home.
“One thing that definitely helped me was that my parents were so on top of it… they encouraged me to get back on a level of being independent again.
“That was about six weeks, to kind of get me up to a basic level where I was able to at least communicate.”
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.
“One thing that’s been a great help to me is going to the gym, trying to keep as fit and active as possible.”
Ekam Dhaliwal
He supported Radio CWR during their Children in Need challenge in November
Dhaliwal was a sports therapist for BBC CWR’s 25-mile, three-legged Children in Need challenge in November, offering therapy and support.
“When it’s for Children in Need, it’s such a great cause… if I can help someone make an impact then that’s perfect,” he said.
His is also back at university.
“I know it’s kind of a cliché, but wanting to help people is my ultimate motivation.
“I’ve been through such a time, I wanted to get back and help people.”
In the future, he has his sights set on a masters in physiotherapy.
“One thing I really want to do is go on to neurological physiotherapy,” he said.