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<\/p>\nA routine concussion check after a Sunday football game ended with a Christchurch father and Air New Zealand captain being told he would never fly again. Almost a year on, he is preparing for the surgery that could decide what comes next.<\/p>\n
Scotty Beatson expected a routine concussion check to end with a pat on the back and a return to the cockpit. Instead, a doctor leant through the curtain and told him he had a brain tumour, and that he would never fly a plane again.<\/p>\n
The Christchurch father and Air New Zealand captain had gone to hospital after a heavy knock to the head playing for his local football club on a Sunday. As a pilot, he was required to rule out concussion before he could return to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my career as a pilot, I have to be very careful around that sort of thing,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cI popped into the hospital to do a routine concussion check, thinking nothing of it. I honestly assumed I\u2019d get cleared, tell work, and carry on flying the following week.\u201d<\/p>\n
A CT scan changed everything. \u201cA doctor leant through the curtain and said, \u2018I\u2019m really sorry to tell you, it doesn\u2019t look like you\u2019re concussed, but unfortunately we\u2019ve found a brain tumour,’\u201d Beatson recalled.<\/p>\n
At the time, doctors described it only as a lesion. \u201cHe said, \u2018First things first, I\u2019ll rip the Band-Aid off. You won\u2019t fly a plane again.\u2019 And straight away he told me that translates to driving as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It would be three or four hours before a neurologist arrived to explain further. \u201cIt was utter shock in that moment,\u201d he said. \u201cMy world flipped upside down.\u201d The strangest part, he says, is that he had no symptoms at all.<\/p>\n
That was August 4 last year, almost a year to the day before his second brain surgery, scheduled for August 3. Beatson, 33, was diagnosed with a grade 3 tumour sitting hard against his motor cortex, one of the most sensitive parts of the brain to operate near.<\/p>\n
His first surgery, in October, aimed for what surgeons call a maximal safe resection. \u201cThey were only able to get 30 percent of it,\u201d he said. \u201cA neuro monitoring team was feeding back to the surgeons that they were getting very close to my cortex, and that it risked permanent damage. So they took the conservative approach and stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then has come a long run of scans, appointments and second opinions from surgeons and oncologists around the world, before the decision to operate again in Christchurch. \u201cMy surgeons have been wonderful, and so have the oncologists,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cSo here we go. Round two is happening on the third of August.\u201d<\/p>\n
Removing the tumour entirely isn\u2019t on the table. \u201cIt\u2019s simply too risky to get it all out,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I told them to go in and risk everything, I\u2019d have to accept I\u2019d likely be paralysed down my left side. So the realistic goal is somewhere between 60 and 90 percent.\u201d Surgeons plan to use a new ultrasound assisted technique during the operation, which Beatson hopes will make whatever comes next, chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy, more effective.<\/p>\n
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He credits his outlook, in part, to his father. \u201cWhen I was a teenager, my father nearly died from a cardiac arrest,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cThat\u2019s probably had a huge impact on my life, just living each day and not planning too far ahead. I hear the term terminal brought up. My tumour hasn\u2019t been classed as terminal yet, but I almost laugh at that, because we\u2019re all on a terminal journey, aren\u2019t we? This is my journey, and why not me? I don\u2019t deserve this any less, or any more, than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being open about it has helped too. \u201cI\u2019ve used social media more than ever as a tool,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing vulnerable and talking about the good days and the bad days has helped. When I say I\u2019m having a bad week, people check in. It\u2019s given everyone an understanding, and a lot of support has come from that.\u201d His employer has stood by him as well, keeping him on in an office based role since he can no longer fly.<\/p>\n
At home, his fianc\u00e9e Mia and their son are never far from his thinking. Kipp was born in March last year, just months before his father\u2019s diagnosis. \u201cHe\u2019s been a wonderful distraction for us,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cHe gives me the whole reason to be around for a lot longer. Kipp\u2019s a huge motivator, and gives me a lot of determination to do what I can to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia has carried a heavy load of her own, raising Kipp while supporting Beatson through fatigue and seizures, and chasing treatment options in whatever spare time she finds. \u201cMia\u2019s been incredible, being a wonderful mum to Kipp and supporting me physically and mentally, day to day,\u201d he told me. \u201cShe\u2019s sent hundreds of emails all around the world researching treatment, on top of everything else. I\u2019m incredibly grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That research has turned up options not available at home. \u201cThere are other treatments we\u2019re keen to explore, like stem cell therapy or CAR T cells,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cMost of those are overseas and cost several hundred thousand dollars. There are unfunded medications that would really help me too. One of them is $52,000 a month. That\u2019s simply unaffordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The medication he\u2019s referring to is vorasidenib, a drug known as an IDH inhibitor. \u201cPart of the molecular makeup of my tumour has this gene mutation,\u201d he explained, \u201cand the drug targets that and prolongs life. It\u2019s been incredibly beneficial in overseas studies. Some countries have managed to get it funded. New Zealand isn\u2019t one of them yet.\u201d Vorasidenib has already been approved for public funding in England.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was reading some stats last week,\u201d Beatson said. \u201cI believe there are 250 New Zealanders right now who could have their lives saved if this was funded. And the number of people being diagnosed with brain tumours each year keeps increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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