Tests carried out after this year’s Olympic trials revealed three huge tumors that the 22-year-old now knew were identified as oligodendrogliomas, a rare kind of diffuse and progressing brain cancer that is incurable.
He previously competed for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and took home a medal in the men’s 50-meter breaststroke at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships.
“My life experienced a profound change as I was diagnosed with three brain tumours,” Goodburn wrote in an Instagram post.
“Strange episodes” had started to disrupt his training in December of last year.
Although these episodes were initially misdiagnosed as headaches, the probable seizures left him feeling weak and numb down his left side.
He went on to say: “The seizures grew in intensity and frequency in the lead-up to the 2024 Olympic trials in April, something I’d aimed for and trained for almost my entire life.”I trained through the seizures because I was committed to realizing my dreams.
I finished third in an event where there were only two berths, barely tenths of a second separate me from the Olympic team.
“After overcoming my difficulties, I looked more closely at the true cause of these assaults.
What I’d started to fear most was ultimately discovered in May during an MRI.
