A dad with an inoperable brain tumor has revealed the bizarre smell he encountered before his diagnosis.
Sam Suriakumar, from south London, experienced a nauseatingly strong smell on two separate occasions in February 2020, leaving him feeling dizzy.
The father-of-two, who lives with his wife, Sindhu, and two daughters, Avaana, 10, and Arya, eight, shortly suffered a 'massive grand mal seizure' while traveling the London Underground which was 'so bad' he dislocated his shoulder.
After being rushed to hospital for tests, medics tragically found a 'large shadow' on the left side of his brain and diagnosed him with an inoperable brain tumor on February 4 that year.
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The family received some good news, as the mass became stable for around two years.
However, in 2023, Sam was told by doctors that it had tragically grown towards the front of his brain and in the area that's responsible for speech, memories and movement, rendering it almost impossible to remove.
Now, Sam, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday on July 26, has revealed the one bizarre smell he came across that almost knocked him off his feet.
The self-employed recruitment consultant explained how he was in the family bathroom just days prior to the seizure when the sudden smell of a cleaning agent 'almost filled up [his] mouth'.
The musician brushed off the smell of bleach, under the assumption his wife had recently cleaned, but it came back again after working out in the gym the next day, shortly before he suffered his seizure.
He recalled: "The smell of ammonia, bleach or some sort of cleaning agent was almost filling up my mouth, it was really strong.
"I felt like I needed to lean against the wall and use the radiator to stand, I felt very strange."
Then while weight-lifting the next day, Sam said the 'cleaning agent smell just all of a sudden hit me' again, adding: "It completely enclosed everything."
While he felt 'very dizzy' in the gym, he recalled also feeling 'drained of energy' on his commute home.
"I closed my eyes and it felt like half an hour went by, but we had only moved one stop," the dad said.
When he next opened his eyes, he was in hospital where he was told he'd suffered a seizure on the tube and a further two more in the ambulance.
However, rather than let his devastating diagnosis get him down, Sam has kept up his active lifestyle - and positive attitude.
Sam ran the 2023 London Marathon to raise money for Brain Tumour Research as well as other fundraising actions, raising a whopping £60,000 (around $79,000) for charity.
Even after receiving a knock-back in July 2023, when he was told his tumor had grown and required intensive rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Sam continued to push himself, completing HYROX in Belgium just six months after finishing treatment.
Now, he's hoping his tumor will be 'suppressed as much as possible' and credits his survival to a positive mindset.
"I’m trying to use my experience to inspire people and turn this into something positive, rather than letting it define me as this poor guy with a sad story," he said.
"I want to provide encouragement and inspiration to others, in that we can fight and we don’t have to let it define us.
"Hold on to hope and positivity in whatever way you can."
Sam added: "Your brain talks to every single part of your body and it’s so important to have a positive mindset.
"It’s not going to come every single day, but try to find those things that inspire and encourage you to help you move forward."
Liv Bridge