Brain Tumour Survivor to Mark Recovery at the Auckland Marathon

On Sunday 30 October, 24-year-old George Strang will attempt to run 21.1kms at the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Marathon, two years on from a brain tumour that nearly cost him his life.

When he was just 22, George was diagnosed with a brain tumour – something doctors say he likely developed as a child and was only discovered in 2020 due to a brain bleed.

Studying for a master’s degree in architecture at Wellington University at the time, George began to feel sick, suffering headaches, dizziness, balance issues, and vomiting. He struggled to stand up, sit down, or even walk straight. He took himself to the hospital several times, but nothing was initially detected.

A couple of weeks later, at the end of his university year, he moved back to his home in Tauranga and went to see his doctor who sent him straight for a scan, where the brain tumour was first discovered.

“It had been around potentially since birth, it was like one they find in kids to young adults, so it had been around for a while, but it had bled, so it was a brain tumour and a brain bleed at the same time. It was pretty nasty,” said George.

“It was just one of those random things, just bad luck, I guess. The type that it was, I got pretty lucky, I don’t think it was quite one a million, it was like one in seven or eight hundred thousand. It was less malignant because it was so slow growing and I don’t know if you’d call it cancerous because it was so slow, but that’s the reason it could stick around for so long and not kill me when I was a kid.”

Following the brain tumour diagnosis, George was rushed through surgery, and then began the long road to recovery.

“The first three months were pretty rough, it took me nine months to a year to fully bounce back, but I was pretty lucky to even get that far,” said George.

“Luckily, because they just opted to do surgery and remove the tumour, I didn’t need to do chemo or radiation. There were no other adverse effects in terms of a stroke or paralysis or blindness or anything like that. I took about three months off uni before I had to go back and finish my masters, which was pretty rough,” he said.

Once back at university, George decided he needed to do something to get his body moving again and so began running. His recovery was challenging, and he felt like he wanted something in his life that he could control.

He began slowly clocking up the kilometres but wanted a bigger goal to work towards to keep him motivated as his recovery progressed – and so he decided to enter the Auckland Half Marathon.

George says completing the 21.1km run will signify his recovery and serve as proof to himself and others facing obstacles that things get better.

“I definitely think finishing will feel like a full circle moment, I think it’ll feel like a great sense of achievement. I’m just looking forward to getting across the finish line,” he said.

“I would say that the biggest take-away from my story is that with some patience and determination, things do get better – not always as quickly as you might like, but they do.”

In the two years since George was first diagnosed with the brain tumour, he completed his degree and is now working as an architecture graduate in Tauranga, has lived in three different cities, and has slowly regained his mental and physical health.

He says having a goal to work toward has been immensely beneficial to his recovery.

“Goal setting is huge, but that doesn’t mean start with a huge goal. Commit to the change you want to make and start small. For me, it started in the hospital with simply walking in a straight line,” he said. “Eventually, it was walking the dog, then running around the block. Running twice a week, then three times a week. Only after six to nine months did I really worry about how far I was going.

“Almost two years after my surgery, I’m here, and still reaching. In that time I have gone back and finished my masters, moved cities, found work, and strived to rebuild my health and fitness. I hope that I can serve as an example that you can absolutely achieve whatever goals you set for yourself, no matter how distant they might seem,” said George.