Pioneering operation saved my sight, says Wolverhampton grandfather Nigel

Within a few weeks he could barely see at all.

"Eventually my sight got so bad that I lost my wife whilst shopping in Waitrose, because I couldn't see her at the end of the aisle," says the 69-year-old grandfather.

Yet when he visited his optician within a week of discovering the problem, they could not find what was causing the trouble. Which was no surprise, because there was nothing wrong with his eyes.

Rather, he was suffering from a massive brain tumour.

That was in August last year, but now he is completely cured thanks to a pioneering operation at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

"It came on really suddenly, and I was practically blind," he said

"I couldn't read a thing. I had gone from being able to read a car number plate from 25 yards, as you need to for the driving test, to not even being able to see the end of my garden.

"It all happened very quickly. Had it been untreated for much longer, the damage would have been irreversible, I would have completely lost my sight," said the accountant from Wrottesley Road, Tettenhall.

But a ground-breaking endoscopic treatment, which allowed the tumour to be removed through his nostrils, meant he could return home within a week of the operation. And less than a year on, his eyesight is as sharp as it have ever been.

"Looking back, there had probably been other minor symptoms. I thought I'm bound to get a little tired sometimes because I'm 69."

Mr Tinsley has now thrown his weight behind the hospital's appeal to raise £250,000 for three new pieces of state-of-the-art equipment, which will allow more patients to receive the same treatment he has benefited from.

"I went to my optician, Flint and Partners in Tettenhall Road, as soon as I noticed there was a problem," he says.

"They have always been very good, I can't speak of them highly enough, but they couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes.

"They referred me to a consultant at New Cross Hospital, where they gave me an MRI scan."

The scan revealed a massive 2in brain tumour.

"I suffered a pituitary tumour which pressed on my optic nerves, causing me to slowly lose my sight," he said.

"It was like an envelope closing in on me. It was the longest a tumour can be."

The operation in September last year left no scars.

"Although I initially felt groggy, I recovered quickly," he said.

"By the end of the week I could read anything.

Mr Tinsley is full of praise for the work of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which he says offered him world-class treatment during his time there.

"It used to be like New Cross, but now it is like something from Star Trek.

"The QE has now got an international reputation for neurosurgery. They have got some fantastic neurosurgeons there, they come from all over the world."

He said the speed of his recovery from such a major piece of surgery was also remarkable.

"I had my operation on the Saturday, it took eight hours, and I was pretty poorly for a couple of days," he says.

"But on the Tuesday I woke up and looked out of the window, where I could see the clock tower at Birmingham University a quarter of a mile away.

"Straight away I said 'a quarter to three'. I can't express how wonderful it felt to have my sight back."

He said he was able to return to work straight away, as he could clearly see a computer screen, and he is now driving again. He is now also able to enjoy playing on the computer with his two-year-old grandson William.

"I have been able to drive for a couple of months, it's been a bit of a slow process with the DVLA.

"I had to wait for the all-clear from them, they are very careful, they don't want to take any chances," he said.

"To look at me physically you wouldn't know I'd undergone brain surgery."

The neurosurgeon who carried out the operation, Alessandro Paluzzi, said tumours on the skull base were difficult to remove using conventional procedures.

"The operation is extremely invasive and requires a long stay in hospital with breathing and feeding tubes, and leaves visible scarring," he said.

"It also carries a greater risk of brain damage."

However, the endoscopic surgery allows the tumour to be removed via the nostrils without causing disfigurement or damage to the brain.

"With conventional surgery, you can't take out the whole of the tumour, normally the most you can do is remove most of it and then have to go through radiotherapy to get rid of the rest, which is pretty unpleasant," says Mr Tinsley, who has two grown-up children Rebecca, aged 43 and Giles, 41, and five grandchildren Alice, 12, Joseph, nine, Isabella, six, Elouise, three and two-year-old William.

The new equipment will not only allow the Queen Elizabeth to offer the treatment to more patients, but will also reduce waiting times for the operation.

Mr Tinsley says: "I can't promote this appeal enough and I want people to benefit from the extremely positive experience I had.

"The new equipment made a life-threatening operation more manageable and less invasive, so I was able to bounce back quickly.

"If it hadn't have been treated quickly, my sight loss would have been permanent. My life wasn't in danger, but it wouldn't have been a very happy life if I had lost my sight. I've been very lucky."

And he says his brush with blindness has certainly caused him to re-evaluate his life, and what his priorities are. It has encouraged him to spend as much time as possible with his friends and family.

"Looking back, I can't really believe that really happened to me," he says.

"It makes you appreciate life a lot more.

"We've just had a party with friends and family to celebrate.

"It's not all about working like mad to get the money to buy a new Merc, it's about friendship."

To donate to the appeal see the website www.qehb.org or contact 0121 371 4852.