Yorkshire footballer and promising MK Dons player Ollie Leach has dreams destroyed after being diagnosed with brain tumour

Ollie Leach, who was on the books at MK Dons, began seeing double while training in March 2020. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour shortly after and had an operation to remove it, but it has left him with vision problems – ruining his career in football.

He thought he had strained a muscle in his eye and it would get better, but told the club’s physio to be on the safe side. Aged just 18, he was sent for an MRI and diagnosed with a germinoma, a type of brain tumour. After exploring natural alternatives to treatment and following a ketogenic diet for six months, Ollie discovered his tumour was still growing. His family crowdfunded to pay for private treatment in Turkey, where his tumour was removed in September 2020.

He said: “It was March 2020, the day before we went into a national lockdown, when I got a call telling me I had a mass on my brain. It was a lot to comprehend and didn’t feel real because I was so healthy, exercising a lot and eating well. The operation took eight hours and my surgeon said it was the hardest he’d performed in his 25-year career.

“I woke up in intensive care knowing I was OK because I wasn’t blind or paralysed, which were some of the risks I’d been warned about. I had a condition called parinaud syndrome though, which causes your eyes to fix downwards. It got better after a few days, but I still see double when I’m not looking straight ahead. My surgeon told me he looked forward to the day I’d play football again but I’ve not been able to. I tried coaching for a while but, ultimately, that wasn’t for me.”

Ollie, 21, considers himself ”very lucky” to have survived his ordeal and believes his tumour would not have been discovered so soon, if at all, had he not been playing football.

The York St John University student underwent five weeks of proton beam therapy in January 2021 and is now being monitored with annual scans. He is due to have surgery shortly to try and correct his vision problems.

He said: “I’m hoping surgery will help because it’s inconvenient having to shut one of my eyes to read or see things properly. It’s unlikely they’ll ever be 100 per cent better but I’m used to how they are now so any improvement is welcome.”

He added: “After my diagnosis, I didn’t think about whether I’d want to go to university, I thought about whether I’d be able to do anything at all, but now I’m studying physiotherapy in York and really enjoying university life.”

Ollie started playing football for Baldock Town FC in York when he was seven and was picked up by MK Dons at 13, eventually moving down there at 16 with the view to turning professional. He says he now wants to do what he can to raise awareness of brain tumours, and is taking part in the Brain Tumour Research’s One Million Keepy Up Challenge.

He added: “It sounds fun and I hope it raises lots of awareness and funds through sponsorship to allow the charity’s scientists to continue their vital work to help find a cure for brain tumours.”

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “Ollie’s story is a stark reminder of just how indiscriminate brain tumours are, affecting anyone at any age. We’re really grateful for Ollie’s support of this campaign and hope that by sharing his story, others feel compelled to get involved.

“An estimated three million tickets will be sold for this year’s World Cup and with one in three people knowing someone affected by a brain tumour, this means more than one million fans attending will know the pain caused by this cruel disease.”

To find out more about the challenge, visit www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraise/keepy-uppy-challenge.