Stu Thomas has played rugby for decades
Stu Thomas was a fit rugby fanatic when his life changed one Monday. And when England World Cup winner Lewis Moody walked onto the Twickenham pitch with the match ball for the Australia game earlier this month, it was a poignant moment that touched rugby fans globally – no more than Stu.
The sporting hero had recently disclosed his battle with Motor Neurone Disease after experiencing shoulder weakness during training. This was a moment that Tonbridge Juddian rugby player Stu could relate to more than most.
Like Lewis, the father-of-two has been dealt a heartbreaking blow. He’s been diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable brain cancer, with doctors giving him just months to live.
“A bit of a shock was an understatement,” admits Stu. “It was disbelief really. You couldn’t quite reconcile the physical fitness and lack of symptoms with the diagnosis.
“Bluntly the surgeon said I had about six months if we don’t do anything. If we operate, it would be 12 to 18 months.”
The 58 year old has been a rugby player for the past five decades, starting as a youngster, where he would train five times a week. Despite being in peak health, on a random Monday last June, Stu experienced a life-altering chronic seizure. In the lead-up to the incident, he didn’t have any symptoms, but noticed that week how he struggled to find words when speaking.
“I struggled to remember what it was. It seemed odd but not odd enough,” Stu recalls. “Then, when I was looking up at my wife, who was sitting in the kitchen, I tried to speak to her. No words would come out at all.
“It felt like a cord was attached to the back of my head and was pulling the skin. I remember losing consciousness. I felt like I was being sick – I was actually foaming at the mouth.”
Approximately a week afterwards, Stu was moved from Maidstone Hospital to King’s College Hospital in London, where medics diagnosed him with glioblastoma. This is an aggressive Grade 4 malignant brain tumour. The typical survival period is roughly 12 to 18 months. Just 25% of patients live beyond one year, with only 5% of those surviving past five years.
Stu continued: “Throughout the treatment and in the last few months, you’ve got really no indication apart from seizures, that show you are unwell. Every new thing that happens to you, a little bit of earache and you think, is that connected?
“I feel tired, is that connected? I’m very lucky that I haven’t suffered from any permanent, lingering physical disability as a result.”
Stu had been operating a small gardening enterprise with his wife, but was forced to cease working following his diagnosis, as his driving licence was revoked for medical reasons. He is now “essentially retired”.
Twelve months ago, he chose to undertake a walk for The Brain Tumour Charity, which is committed to funding research, raising awareness, reducing diagnosis times and providing support. Stu completed the journey from far-off East Kent to the Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Football Club (TJRFC) – collecting approximately £18,000. He reveals that after witnessing the recent BBC interview with sports legend and former England rugby captain Lewis Moody, he felt compelled to take action once more. Lewis, who previously turned out for Leicester Tigers and Bath, gave a heartbreaking account of how he broke the devastating news to his loved ones.
“I could see the same emotions in his explanation, or talking about the diagnosis and what he was going to do, and the disbelief and the questions he had,” says Stu.”He was an honest rugby player, who off the pitch, was one of the nicest folks you could hope to meet.
“I’m not afraid to say I cried watching Lewis on the sofa, interviewed by the BBC with his wife, struggling to make sense of the reality of what lies ahead. It took me straight back to the same scenes I went through last year. As he talked, it was like looking in a mirror.”
Lewis returned to the pitch on Saturday, November 2, and delivered the match ball before England’s commanding 25-7 triumph against Australia. Stu has calculated that nearly £6,000 has been raised for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation – a research charity dedicated to MND.
More than 30 people accompanied him on his trek, which took place on Saturday, October 18. They departed from Maidstone West Station at 7.30am and collected those who fancied a shorter stroll at The Waterside Cafe, East Peckham, at about 11am.
The final stop was the club, where a home match against Plymouth Albion was scheduled for 3pm. Stu remains as the coach of the girls’ team at the rugby club, where his 14-year-old daughter, Phoebe, is a player.