Michael Bolton’s daughters have spoken out about the moment they knew something was wrong with their father – leading to his glioblastoma diagnosis
Michael Bolton’s family have revealed they realised something was wrong when the singer made a series of peculiar moves during a bowling night out. The 72-year-old pop star was enjoying a game with his children and grandkids when he exhibited some odd behaviour.
According to People magazine, his daughter Taryn recalled that unsettling moment, saying: “That was when we were like, ‘Something’s wrong with his brain. Everything that happened was weird for him but not super alarming. When you look back at everything together. . . We missed so many things.”
His behaviour at the bowling alley turned out to be red flags for glioblastoma, an uncommon and aggressive type of brain cancer. Symptoms associated with brain tumours can range from persistent headaches and seizures to nausea, fatigue, or even changes in personality and physical abilities, all hinging on the tumour’s whereabouts, size, and speed of growth in the brain, reports Surrey Live.
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That same evening, yet another abnormal incident worried the family as Michael toppled from his chair. Taryn said: “He fell out of his chair to the left, which is very unusual. He’s super athletic, and he doesn’t drink. So he fell, and we were like, ‘What just happened?'”
That weekend, Bolton experienced a severe headache and by Monday, he found himself in hospital. An MRI scan confirmed the presence of a brain tumour.
The tumour was completely removed during surgery and about a week later, doctors diagnosed it as glioblastoma, a condition that affects roughly 15,000 Americans annually, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. After undergoing two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the singer’s most recent scan earlier this month showed no signs of the tumour.
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In a fresh interview, the singer declared: “Succumbing to the challenge is not an option. You’re really quickly drawn into a duel. I guess that’s the way you find out what you’re made of.”
He added: “Whenever you find yourself in any kind of challenging position, just to know that you’re not alone going through it is a big deal.” He now confesses that his health scare has instilled in him a deeper appreciation for life. His daughter, Holly, disclosed that he began singing “within minutes” while recovering from his operation.
Dr. Ingo Mellinghoff, Bolton’s neuro-oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, explained that symptoms of brain tumours often encompass sudden personality changes, intense headaches, seizures, coordination problems and muscle weakness and paralysis.
“If all of a sudden you’re a completely different person, and people are like, ‘He never gets out of bed anymore. What’s going on? He doesn’t want to do anything’…”, Mellinghoff says. “If somebody can’t move one part of their body, that’s never normal. Or changes in sensation. When they say, ‘I can’t feel anything anymore on my right side.'”
Mellinghoff also points out that alterations in how someone speaks can act as a serious warning sign. “Speech is pretty sensitive. We all have our speech patterns, and if all of a sudden your friend says, ‘It sounds so strange, and it doesn’t make sense,’ that is definitely something,” he notes.
“It’s really hard to put out the message of, ‘If you have a headache, think about brain cancer,’ because that’s so rare,” he remarks. “Many of these symptoms are very non-specific, so we have to be careful not scaring everyone.”
The Brains Trust charity has laid out what to watch for when it comes to the deadly illness, writing: “Because there are so many different types of brain tumour, there are a number of brain tumour symptoms and signs, depending on the nature of the brain tumour and where it is.”
The continue: “These may be very severe, or may not be apparent at all. So, it is a very broad spectrum with which we are dealing. Please remember this if you haven’t been diagnosed with a brain tumour. It is a rare condition and having a headache for more than a week does not mean that you necessarily have a brain tumour.”
Brain tumour symptoms
- Headaches that are more severe in the morning and wake you in the night. They are usually different from headaches you might have had previously and will be persistent and worsen with time
- Nausea and vomiting: With a headache this can indicate increased pressure in the head (raised intracranial pressure)
- Seizures: A seizure is abnormal electrical impulses in the brain, causing sudden involuntary changes in movement or function, sensation, awareness, or behaviour. A first-time seizure in an adult is often investigated
- Weakness, loss of sensation or numbness: This is a sign of pressure on (or damage to) a specific part of the brain and can also be manifested through walking unsteadily or lack of coordination (ataxia) or muscle weakness on one side of the body (hemiparesis)
- Hearing loss: Could be a sign of an acoustic neuroma if it occurs only on one side
- Loss/disturbance of vision, including double vision: In one or both eyes could be a symptom, if there is a tumour pressing on the optic nerve or there is one affecting the visual pathways or if there is raised intracranial pressure.
- Speech difficulties: May also include the loss of ability to write, speak or understand words. A person may have difficulty getting the right words out (expressive dysphasia) or difficulty articulating them (dysarthia)
- Other brain tumour symptoms: Lack of concentration, confusion, memory loss, disorientation, drowsiness, change in behaviour.
