By Bill Heaney
He said: “I do have an incurable brain cancer. It is almost certainly what will kill me, but I am optimistic that need not happen for a long time yet. I have a rare tumour called an oligodendroglioma, which tends to respond better to treatment than many other types.”
Mr Campbell underwent successful surgery at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and he said neurosurgeon Paul Brennan and his team managed to remove “almost all” of the tumour without damaging healthy brain tissue.
He said the “hardest thing” had been telling his children Cameron, 20, and Katie, 17, what was happening to him. Getting through that without breaking down “was a relief,” he admitted.
“I was surprised to discover that I am not afraid of dying. It turns out my biggest fear is FOMO – the fear of missing out. Missing out on growing old with my wife.
“Missing out on seeing my children complete their journeys into adulthood. Missing out on their graduations, weddings and the arrival of any children they might have.”
The journalist spent several days in hospital in Edinburgh in June last year after coming off his bike in an accident which saw him break 10 ribs.
“Six weeks later, while recovering at home, he told how he woke clutching his arm, suffering from a “strong burning sensation” and “could not walk or talk coherently”.
He recalled: “Involuntarily, I bit down hard on my tongue and started bleeding from my mouth. At first my wife, Claire, thought I was having a stroke. It turned out I was having an epileptic fit or seizure.”
Paramedics took him to hospital and it was then that an MRI scan revealed a tumour on the right hand side of his brain. Since then he has had 33 “blasts” of radiotherapy treatment, along with chemotherapy, which he started before Christmas.
Adding that in some ways this has already begun, he told how he is “spending more time with friends and family” and is “taking more time to appreciate simple pleasures, especially walking in Scotland’s breath-taking landscapes”. He said he wanted to speak about his cancer diagnosis and treatment “in the hope that it might offer encouragement to others”.