Man with ‘flu-like’ symptoms given months to live after rare diagnosis

By Ben Barry

A man who thought he had the flu discovered his grogginess was actually due to a brain tumor and was given 12 months to live.

Kieran Shingler, 26, started to experience a headache, sore throat and runny nose on Bonfire Night in 2022, which he initially suspected was the flu or COVID.

He did a COVID test, which came back negative, so he and his girlfriend, Abbie Henstock, 26, brushed off his symptoms as the flu.

But, as weeks went on, Kieran, a HGV driver, started to feel worse and became unable to keep his food down.

His GP recommended he go to Warrington Hospital, Cheshire, and medics there initially suspected Kieran had meningitis, but a CT scan revealed a mass on the brain.

Kieran was then transferred to the Walton Centre, Liverpool, where he had four operations, including a biopsy - which revealed he had a grade three astrocytoma, a fast-growing cancerous tumor.

Kieran then underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which started to shrink the tumor, but in his most recent scan was told it had started to grow again.

Kieran, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "When I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I was scared, angry and always questioned why.

"I couldn’t have got through the past couple of years without the support of my friends and family but especially my mom and Abbie.

"They always made sure to put me before themselves and I will always be so grateful.

"Abbie especially has stuck by my side and remained strong for me as I lost my mom last year. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for."

Kieran was experiencing flu-like symptoms - including a general grogginess, headaches, a blocked nose and a sore throat.

After a negative COVID test, the couple put Kieran's symptoms down to the flu, but they continued to worsen.

Abbie, a communications officer, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "Kieran just wasn't getting any better; he couldn't keep food down, and he was getting excruciating headaches.

"He was so fit, he was doing a triathlon, working out, we just knew something wasn't right - this wasn't Kieran."

On November 21st, Kieran's mom, Lisa, who passed away last year, aged 52, called the doctor, who recommended that he go to Warrington Hospital.

There he went for a CT scan, which revealed a mass on the brain, and was blue-lighted to the Walton Centre, Liverpool.

Abbie said: "Kieran had an MRI scan and they told us that the tumor was blocking fluid from going to his spine.

"They said he would need an emergency endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) - a procedure used to treat hydrocephalus, a condition where cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the brain's ventricle."

The surgery was successful and Kieran started to feel better.

He was then taken for a craniotomy to debulk the tumor and take a biopsy. After this surgery, Kieran now suffers from short-term memory loss, one of the side effects from this invasive surgery.

While waiting for the results of the biopsy, Kieran started getting a fever and began screaming in intense pain.

Doctors said the ETV had failed, and he was admitted to the Walton Centre again for surgery to fit an external shunt - a medical device that diverts fluid from one area of the body to another.

On December 29, 2022, an hour before Kieran was going into surgery to have a permanent shunt installed, his family was told that he had a grade three astrocytoma - a fast-growing cancerous tumor.

Abbie said: "Until this point, they hadn't told us the results of the biopsy as it was near Christmas.

"But on 29 December, we found out it was cancer - a fast-growing tumour, but they couldn't be certain what grade.

"An hour later, he went down for surgery to fit a permanent shunt - It was all a blur.

On January 5, 2023, Kieran met with an oncologist at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool.

He was told he would have 30 sessions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which ended in February 2023, with MRI and CT scans showing the tumor was shrinking.

Kieran had a month off treatment to rest before he was due to have six more cycles of a higher dose of chemotherapy. But in July 2023, he was told it had stopped working and the tumor was growing again.

Abbie said: "When we found out that the tumor was starting to grow again, they put Kieran on another dose of chemotherapy called lomustine.

"The scans showed that the chemotherapy was working and the tumor started to shrink again."

In November 2023, Kieran had to stop treatment because there was evidence of liver damage.

As the liver can repair itself, he just needed time off treatment, and every scan he attended showed that the tumor was continuing to shrink.

Abbie said: "At every three-monthly scan we attended, we were told that his tumor was shrinking and shrinking.

"It had started at 5.5cm and the smallest it got to was 0.35cm with 19 months of no treatment!”

"But at his most recent scan in June 2025, we were told his tumor had started to grow again."

The couple set up the online fundraising page Kieran’s Krew - initially to raise money for brain tumor charities - but it has evolved into much more.

Kieran, his family and friends have raised more than £52k or different brain tumor charities, including the Brain Tumour Charity, and to pay for different therapies at home, such as an oxygen machine and red light.