A DAD was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour ‘the size of a man’s fist’ by the same MRI scanners he helped install at Royal Blackburn Hospital a year earlier.

Ed Antrobus’ world came crashing down when he was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour earlier this year and was told by doctors he only had months left to live.

The family have also had to give up their home after Mr Antrobus had to stop working.

The 33-year-old, who lives in Colne with his wife, Colette, 30, twin girls Ida and Elia aged five and son Arthur, three, had initially gone to the GP with migraines – but was told this was caused by excess coffee drinking.

After starting to suffer with dizziness, the electrician went for an eye test and discovered he had swelling behind his eyes.

Mr Antrobus was immediately taken to Burnley General Hospital in an ambulance, before being transferred to Royal Blackburn Hospital where he had MRI scans which revealed he had a large tumour on his brain.

Mrs Antrobus said her husband underwent an operation and a large part of the tumour was removed.

However over the course of the following months doctors discovered the tumour had started to quickly grow back.

Mrs Antrobus said: “We’ve been told it's a matter of months – we’re all so numb.

“It’s so hard on everyone and it’s hard to tell the children because they don’t understand properly what’s happening.

“It’s not as if there’s any treatment to cure it, we don’t have any hope to hold onto.

“We can’t do anything about the outcome so we have to try and be positive and enjoy every moment we have together.”

Mr Antrobus, who is originally from Accrington, will now undertake a series of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments to help prolong his life.

The father had to give up his job as an electrician – which saw him working all over East Lancashire, including The Mall in Blackburn, Royal Blackburn Hospital and Colne.

Mrs Antrobus said: “Ed has had to give up being an electrician and we didn’t have enough money to keep up with our mortgage repayments so our home has been repossessed.

“We’ve had to go to rented accommodation and we’re having issues with universal credit so money is really tight right now.

“I had to give up my job making children’s clothes when I had the twins.

“I’m worried about costs further down the line, I have nothing for his funeral.

“The people at the job centre have been great with us but the whole situation has been horrendous. It’s not just the awful situation with my husband has to deal with, we’ve lost our home and struggling with so much else as well.

“Ed told me he helped fit the MRI scanning machines at the hospital in Blackburn that were used to help diagnose him, that was a strange feeling for him.”

A close friend of Mrs Antrobus, Francesca Roberts, set up a gofundme page to raise money for the family. The page has just reached the £3,000 mark.

Mrs Antrobus said: “Fran has been amazing, like the rest of my family, friends and the entire community of Colne.

“We’ve had such supportive, kind words, donations and help from so many different people.

“I really want to say to everyone out there, if you have any sort of niggle or don’t feel right please go get it looked at.

“It’s better to spot something early and get it sorted than to let something go untreated.

“Even if we help save one person’s life then we have made a difference.

“I have been told out of all the money raised for cancer treatments, only around one per cent goes towards research into brain cancer. I hope that can change soon.”

To donate to the family’s page, visit www.gofundme.com and search ‘Ed Antrobus fund’.