My partner thought his bad headaches were from stress — doctors now say he has only months to live
A man’s “constant” headaches turned out to be terminal cancer — now doctors have told him that he has just 15 months to live.
Ricky Smith, a 39-year-old father of three and stepfather to a fourth, started getting cluster headaches in February, but he chalked it up to being overworked, South West News Service reported.
“He started getting constant headaches for a couple of weeks. We thought at first it may have been a virus. I was ill just before, but his lasted longer than mine,” said his partner, Katrina Binfield, 41, a makeup artist from Minster, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England.
After Smith’s symptoms progressed for weeks, his partner, Binfield told him to see a doctor.
“He is a hardworking man and never takes time off, but he was starting to call in sick and just sit around the house,” she added.
That doctor just told Smith to hydrate and rest, but something still didn’t seem right.
Binfield scheduled him for an eye test, and the optometrist saw that he had blood behind one of his retinas.
He went to Maidstone Hospital to get a CT scan, which revealed that he’d had a stroke.
An MRI then revealed else on Smith’s brain.
“The doctor confirmed he had a tumor,” Binfield said.
“It was horrible. I just broke down, but Ricky was trying to be strong, “ she added.
A bystander’s reaction even surprised her.
“A woman across from us burst into tears,” Binfield added. “You look at us we’re a young family — you don’t expect this.”
Smith was later referred to King’s College Hospital in London where he was told he had a butterfly tumor, which was inoperable.
“The doctor told us this is an aggressive form of cancer, and he said how Ricky would have 15 months to live.
“They said Ricky needed a biopsy, which he had on Friday; that went really well. We are in the waiting game to see what treatment Ricky can have to prolong his life,” she added.
Binfield said that sharing the sad news with their children — Louie, 8, Karson, 5, and Arlo, 2 — was very difficult.
“Arlo is too little to understand, but I sat Louie and Karson down last week,” she explained.
“Louie is such a sensitive soul, so I was really worried about him. He got up, gave me a hug and said, ‘Don’t worry, mum — we will fight this,’ ” she recalled.
She added that she and Karson cried together.
“He has been amazing, but it still doesn’t feel like this is happening to us,” she revealed.
The couple’s friends set up a GoFundMe — titled “Ricks army- Cancer will not win!!” — to raise money for Smith’s treatment, his 40th birthday and for a planned wedding.
They’ve already surpassed their approximately $95,600 goal within one week.
