Baldock footballer Ollie Leach raising brain tumour awareness

Now, 21-year-old Ollie Leach is lending his support to the Brain Tumour Research Keepy Uppy Challenge to raise funds and awareness. 

As a teenager, Ollie was on the cusp of realising his ambition of becoming a pro footballer with MK Dons. However, he began suffering from double vision during training in March 2020.

Ollie Leach during treatment at The Christie in Manchester (Image: Courtesy of Brain Tumour Research)

He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had surgery to remove it, but was left with vision problems which ruined his future in football.

He said: “I started playing football with my local team, Baldock Town FC, when I was seven. Then when I was 13, one of the coaches set up a trial at MK Dons.

“It was terrifying but I proved I could keep up and the club offered to take me on. I was there until I was forced to stop playing because of my brain tumour almost six years later.

Ollie, from Baldock, was on the cusp of realising his dreams when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour (Image: mkdons.com)

“I played throughout secondary school in the club’s academy. When I was 16 I went for a scholarship, which is when you transition from playing football as a hobby to it becoming professional."

Ollie moved in with a host family in Loughton for the first two years of his scholarship. During a training session towards the end of his second year, he noticed a problem with his vision.

“When I looked to the side, things weren’t clear and it started affecting me playing football," Ollie said.

Ollie Leach ringing the bell at the end of his treatment (Image: Courtesy of Brain Tumour Research)

"As the ball was coming towards me, I would have to guess where to put my foot because I was seeing double.”

He thought he had strained a muscle in his eye and assumed it would get better with time, but told the club’s physical therapist to be sure.

At 18 he was referred for an MRI scan and diagnosed with a low-grade germinoma.

Ollie's family crowdfunded to pay for private treatment in Turkey, where his tumour was removed in September 2020. (Image: Courtesy of Brain Tumour Research)

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.”

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 added: “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 now hopes to raise awareness and funds for Brain Tumour Research with the Keepy Uppy Challenge (Image: Courtesy of Brain Tumour Research)

The York St John University student under went 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.”

Ollie 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.

Ollie had the tumour removed in 2020, but has been left with long-term vision problems (Image: Courtesy of Brain Tumour Research)

Of the One Million Keepy Uppy Challenge, which coincides with the World Cup, he said: “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.”

His old team, The Dons, kicked off the challenge last week by encouraging residents and supporters to complete 10,000 keepy-uppies towards the one million target – a symbolic number which represents the £1 million it costs to fund a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence for a year.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet, historically, just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

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.