Glenn, why are we sitting here today?
Why, indeed? HE LAUGHS
Many young people are dissatisfied with television.
The SNP have 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland.
Well, it's not every day an American tycoon gives evidence.
I spent a career telling other people's stories,
and now I'm telling my own.
My name is Glenn Campbell.
I am a husband, a father of two children,
I live in East Lothian,
originally from the isle of Islay off the west coast of Scotland,
and I'm currently political editor at BBC Scotland.
Prime Minister, why are you making people in Scotland poorer?
Hey, how are you?
So, interviewing prime ministers and first ministers.
Did I give anything to STV that's going to embarrass Glenn?
Last year, I fell off my bike
and I broke ten ribs.
I was ready to go back to work
when something even worse happened.
I think that's going to be enough to get it going...
..hopefully.
I was just flicking through the papers,
which are obviously covering the fact that
there's going to be an election on the fourth of July,
and what I'm thinking about is,
"Can I be involved?"
Erm, I haven't missed an election since 1997.
I feel quite determined not to... to miss out on this one.
I've stopped my chemo treatment, so I should be feeling better as, er...
..as the weeks go on, and I'm starting to think,
"Well, how involved in the election can I be?"
And I think I'll be able to do something.
Life was good.
I was working hard, I was enjoying life,
I was probably fitter than I'd maybe even ever been.
I was out on my bike with a friend,
I was coming down a very steep hill.
I got unlucky, I clipped a rough edge,
the bike went one way and I went the other.
I was very lucky.
The next vehicle to come was a retired police officer.
He knew exactly what to do.
I was taken to the major trauma unit.
I spent five or six weeks recovering from that.
I was looking forward to going back to work,
and then, on the Saturday night into the...the Sunday morning,
I woke up feeling really strange.
I couldn't walk or talk properly,
it was almost like being drunk.
I think my wife thought I was having a stroke,
but it turned out that I was having a...a seizure.
He was grabbing one side of his...and his arm.
Erm, but he couldn't really kind of talk,
so I was thinking maybe it's a stroke.
I didn't really know, but luckily my son was back from uni,
so I banged on his door and said, "Just ring an ambulance,"
erm, because I really didn't know what was happening.
An ambulance came and I was back in hospital.
I got a scan, and that's what revealed
that I had a...a brain tumour.
They said it was a high-grade, aggressive brain tumour.
We were quite bleak about the outcome,
so we were just kind of reeling with that really and thinking,
"OK, well, how do we cope with it?"
They thought I had the most common kind of brain tumour,
which so happens to be the worst kind.
People in that situation tend to last about a year,
maybe 18 months.
So, basically, I'd been told I had a terminal illness, and...
HE SIGHS ..that's...that's a big blow.
It's devastating.
And I thought, "Well, I can't affect the health outcome here.
"So what can I do that's useful?
"Well, I'm a journalist, I can tell my story."
You're going in for this operation in two days' time.
How are you feeling about it? I haven't spent a lot of time
thinking about the operation,
mainly because I don't want to think about the operation.
I just want to keep busy between now and then.
And, actually, I found there's quite a lot to do
to get everything in order,
and then I'll turn up on the day.
Is there anything else you want to add?
Erm, maybe just do one, er...
..a sort of slightly more personal one. Is that all right?
Well, I was organising my affairs
on the basis that I was going to die quite soon.
I think I've been really lucky in my life.
Doing all the things you have to do to try and make sure
the burden of your death would not be so great on your family,
trying to make things as easy as possible for them.
I've got an amazing wife,
two fantastic kids,
and a lot of love.
That's...been amazing.
I was about to have major brain surgery,
and I was also concerned that I might not make it through that,
so I better get things in order now,
just in case it didn't work out in the operating theatre.
So, this is me on the way to hospital for my operation.
My lovely wife Claire is in the driver's seat.
I mean, obviously, it's a big day for the both of us,
but it's an even bigger day, because it's our tenth wedding anniversary.
So, yes, brain surgery is a kind of funny way to celebrate,
but if the doctors can sort this thing out,
then we have a lot to be thankful for.
I can't pretend that I'm not a little bit anxious,
because I haven't really had anything like this done before.
The folk here know what they're doing.
I'm in pretty safe hands, and a few hours from now,
I should be wide awake again.
In the morning of that...
Yeah, kind of dropped him off,
and then, erm, said goodbye and left him.
And we were just waiting.
Waiting, really, for this call to say that he was out of surgery.
So, I reckon I've been out for about five hours,
and now I'm back, which feels absolutely amazing.
I felt an exhilaration from being alive.
"I've made it through the operation, I'm still here!"
And as far as I can make out from the doctors,
they've managed to get out quite a bit,
maybe a wee bit more than they expected.
But now the job is to find out exactly what was in there
and what further treatment we can do.
There are some weeks between the surgery
and the results of the...
..the biopsy of your...your tumour.
And, I mean, I think in my case, it was just a few weeks,
which is not a lot of time, really.
Erm, but, boy, you feel every single minute of that,
because you don't know what the outcome is.
We're about a month on from my brain surgery,
and today is a pretty big day,
because I'm going back to hospital to get my results,
to find out exactly what kind of tumour I've got.
And instead of sitting around worrying,
I've come to the beach and I'm going to go for a swim.
Remember, I still think I've got a year or so to live,
unless I get really lucky.
Whoo! Amazing!
I guess we're about to get a reality check now,
and we're prepared for whatever the doctors have to say,
but always hoping for the best.
Well, we've just spent just over an hour with a doctor,
with an oncologist, going through the results.
I knew that they thought it was a cancerous tumour,
an incurable cancerous tumour,
and they've confirmed that.
But actually, there's some really, really good news as well.
It's not the worst kind,
and these can typically end your life within a year or so.
In my case, it looks like we can avoid that.
It looks like I can be around for quite a bit longer.
You know, I hit the...the jackpot.
I got a type of brain cancer
that is more treatable than most other tumours.
And, I mean, I couldn't believe it.
My tumour is called an oligodendroglioma.
Only about 3% of brain cancers are in that category.
Actually, I feel really good after that appointment.
I don't know how you feel. CLAIRE LAUGHS
Relieved, er, delighted.
Can I say that? I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, just feel like a huge weight
has been lifted from my shoulders.
Just feel I can smile and breathe again a bit more.
In that moment, my average life expectancy
went from months to potentially years.
And, you know, that was amazing.
So, it's a few hours since I got my results.
I'm back home and I'm out doing one of my favourite things -
walking the dog.
It's a beautiful evening, but all the more beautiful
because instead of spending it
working out what I could cram in to the life I've got left,
I'm now having to think about extending
the bucket list, because I could be around for a good bit longer
than I thought was possible.
I thought I wasn't going to have a 50th birthday,
now I'm starting to think it could be possible
I might be here for my 60th.
Well, it takes adjustment to switch from
being somebody who is dying from brain cancer
to starting to believe
that you are going to be somebody who is living with a brain tumour.
Now, that's overall a happy adjustment to make,
but it is still an adjustment.
Although nobody wants to be in the cancer club,
it is actually a pretty supportive environment to be in.
Theo I sometimes call my cancer coach,
because, erm, any issue that comes up,
erm, she will have dealt with it already
because she's a wee bit further along.
I think I might have the chocolate Guinness cake.
Go for it. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Theo was diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer,
the worst kind, a glioblastoma.
A carrot cake. Cannae beat a wee bit of carrot cake.
So, how are you doing? I'm fine.
I've got my scan on the September the 11th, which...
Oh, really? Yeah. THEY CHUCKLE
So, I've got two scans left to get through.
And how are you feeling
kind of emotionally about everything? I mean...
I kind of keep thinking that all of this is going to
catch up with me at some point, because, you know,
generally speaking, I'm OK, you know? Yeah.
Erm, I have my moments, I suppose,
and Claire and I have our moments.
Erm, but, you know, usually they're short-lived,
and, erm, we just keep going,
because that's the only thing there is, isn't there? Yeah.
Just keep going. I mean, I remember you asking me
why I felt angry about having a brain tumour.
You didn't... That wasn't something you... No, and it hasn't.
That certainly hasn't expressed itself since then.
But, I mean, that doesn't mean I don't understand why
you might well feel... Yeah. ..anger.
I mean, there is actually quite a lot to get angry about, you know,
beyond the...the personal, when it comes to,
you know, why hasn't the science advanced as quickly as it has
in some other types of cancer?
100%, I think that's a lot of where my anger lies now.
I mean, I think a lot of the work that I'm doing,
I don't know about you, but is about making things better
for future patients.
Not necessarily going to do us any good, is it? No, no.
Brain cancer hasn't had the focus that other cancers have had.
All right.
And not too many people with brain tumours
stick around long enough to be able to...to shout about them.
And I thought, "Well, you're still here.
"What do you want to do with your life?"
And one of the things I came up with was,
I love climbing mountains.
Why don't you climb every Munro in Scotland
to raise as much money and as much awareness as we can?
You know, why don't you just set yourself that challenge
and get on with it?
So, it's about five weeks after brain surgery,
and in the next couple of weeks,
they're going to start blasting me with radiotherapy.
So there's a window here where I'm feeling really good
and keen to get out and about and up into the hills.
So, this is my first Munro in a long time.
I'd actually quite like to do them all.
281 to go.
But it's also for me.
You know, it's something that I can do
that I love, that makes me very happy.
This is me living with my brain tumour.
Yes!
So, I've kind of woven it into the fundraising
and the awareness raising to underline the limits
of what is currently available.
The treatment has not really changed in a generation.
So, there's surgery, if that's possible.
There's radiotherapy.
Give us a wave if you need us at all. OK, thank you.
And there's chemotherapy, which can be pretty brutal.
These wee capsules are going to help kill my cancer,
and the other ones are
hopefully going to stop the chemotherapy
making me feel sick. Here we go.
And that's...that's it.
That's your combination.
Lovely.
There hasn't really been a major advance in the treatment
that's available on the NHS for...for a very long time,
and I for one would like to see that change.
For me, you know, if I can stick around long enough,
maybe there will be a breakthrough.
Erm, but to be honest, I'm more focused on
trying to move the science on so that
the patients that have yet to be diagnosed
have a...have a better experience.
Good girl, come on.
Over time, I felt better and better,
and so I decided to go back to work.
Lucky day.
It is nice to be back. You're looking great.
I feel good, I feel really good, yeah.
I'm very lucky to have a job that I love.
I've been doing it for a very long time,
but I still start the day with a spring in my step.
Hey, how are you?
Fine? I feel good, actually. Yeah?
You know, the buzz of uncovering a story
or a new bit of information to develop a story...
What I'm saying to you is that I want to make sure...
Well, you're not answering the question.
..and get that on air, preferably before anyone else does.
Erm, it's what keeps me going.
Have you at any point offered your resignation?
No, I haven't.
And Glenn joins me now.
All right, OK.
So, I was back to work.
I was feeling good.
And then I had a seizure.
SIREN BLARES
I ended up in Accident and Emergency again.
I ended up in intensive care for 24 hours,
because the only way they could make it stop
was by putting me into a medical coma.
And fortunately, they were able to bring me back out of that.
I have moved to the Department for Clinical Neurology.
Erm, Claire has been to see me.
It's not possible to explain why it happened there and then,
but it did.
I feel very emotional.
And strangely...
..that's not something...
..I can say when Claire is here.
I guess I don't want to...
..lose it in front of her.
That gave me a hell of a fright, erm...
..because the outcome could have been quite different.
It seems to me the only certainty about having a tumour,
having brain cancer, and I'm sure this is the same
for many other cancers as well,
is continued uncertainty.
There are clear signs on the scan
of what could be regrowth in my tumour,
and that's not what we would expect to see with a tumour of my type,
and especially because we've been poisoning it for months now
with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
I got unlucky in March 2024.
I set out to do Meall nan Tarmachan.
We were ten minutes from the car park and I had a seizure,
and that was a pretty awkward place to be.
So, I think my lips are probably twitching a little bit
as well as my hand,
and that tends to be how a seizure expresses itself,
where you lose control of, erm,
parts of your body, and in my case,
because my tumour is in the right-hand side of my brain,
next to the part that controls
motor or movement function down the left-hand side of my body,
and has an impact on the sensory functions down that side.
It did go on for quite a while, and it went on
to a point where my colleague and others who had, erm...
..other hill walkers who'd gathered to help,
decided that they needed to... to call for emergency help.
And I was winched off the hill.
It's just something to... to live with and to manage.
And, you know, over time,
the number of incidents of that have...you know,
have reduced very significantly.
I certainly wouldn't have wished to be in this situation,
but I'm still having a good life.
I'm learning to live with my cancer.
I'm not going to worry about dying from it,
unless that's staring me in the...in the face.
And I want to get as much out of every day as I possibly can.
So, this is the anniversary weekend of me falling off my bike
and breaking ten ribs, and I suppose it's the anniversary weekend
of what turned out to be the start of my cancer journey.
And to mark that, I have asked a bunch of people to come together
and to cycle pretty much the route I was on when I fell off my bike.
Thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for raising lots of money for a good cause,
and have a great cycle. WHOOPING AND CLAPPING
Brain Power is about getting more money into research,
and very specifically, it's about
helping establish a new research centre here in Scotland.
Have a great cycle, folks.
And the simple idea is the more scientific brain power
you have focused on this or any other problem,
the better chance they've got
of making the sort of breakthroughs that are needed.
Now, I'm not going to do it all myself today,
because the stage I'm at in my cancer treatment,
that probably wouldn't be a good idea,
but I am going to go home in a minute and get my...get my Lycra on,
and I'll pick up the journey and hopefully get into the village
of Gifford for the breakfast that I was denied a year ago.
Whoo! Fantastic.
Great stuff.
So, the accident itself just happened just around that corner.
I think it might be a wee bit dodgy to start from the exact spot,
but we're more or less in the area.
All right, let's go for it.
My doctors tell me I probably had the brain tumour
quietly growing in my head for five years, maybe longer.
I find it stunning, all the things that I've done with a brain tumour
without having the faintest idea.
Hey, all the super-fast cyclists are already here.
Hey! Woohoo!
Tea or coffee? Can I have coffee, please?
Yeah, a wee splash of milk and that'd be lovely.
There you go. Cheers. I'll come and take...
With a candle as well!
I know it's not a birthday.
So this is...
This is the breakfast I didn't get a year ago.
This is the breakfast.
Man, that is so, so good.
But it's kind of quite hard to think that it was a year ago.
How much has happened in that time? In that time? I know.
I grew up on the isle of Islay.
My mum and dad ran the village shop.
So it's really lovely to be home.
This will always be a really special place for me.
I was just thinking, Mum, you know, back a year,
you know, obviously I had to pick up the phone and tell you what was...
..what was happening. Erm, you got a bit of a shock, right?
I did, I got a terrible shock.
The bottom fell out of my world.
SHE CLEARS HER THROAT But...
..I mean, you've coped with it pretty well, haven't you?
I think what's made me cope with it so well
is your whole attitude to it,
and...
..erm, your determination.
I had the belief that you...
It wasn't... Although it's bad,
it wasn't going to be as bad
as you thought it was,
because there was no way I was losing you
within a year or a year and a half.
And you were right. And I was right.
Well, certainly about the year anyway.
THEY LAUGH
This is Machir Bay,
and it's one of my favourite places on the planet.
It's a great place to come and sweep away the cobwebs.
There's great clarity in being confronted with your own mortality,
because you realise what...
..really matters in life, and maybe what doesn't matter quite so much.
And what matters is family and friends
and good times and...
..making memories. I'm still interested in...
..in my...in my work and in politics
and current affairs.
Erm, but at the same time,
I realise that that's not the most important thing in my life.
PHONE LINE RINGING
Hi, darling. Hello, Mum, how are you?
I'm very well, thanks. How are you, more to the point?
Well, we've just had the results
and the doctor thinks the treatment's working,
and the scans are a lot clearer than they were before.
Oh, great. Great.
Oh, that's brilliant.
That must have been an awful relief to you.
Oh, Claire and I are delighted.
Oh, yeah, and so am I, pet.
Oh, that's wonderful news.
Oh, well, away and have a nice coffee or something like that.
I think something stronger than that, Granny. Come on.
Well, I don't know. Will he take anything stronger?
Oh, not for him. Me! THEY LAUGH