Commonwealth swimmer Archie Goodburn calls for urgent action on brain cancer after incurable diagnosis

An Edinburgh Commonwealth swimmer says he wants to use his profile to push for greater investment in brain cancer care and research.

Archie Goodburn was told he had incurable tumours as he attempted to qualify for the Olympics. He has since been campaigning alongside others affected by the disease.

Goodburn competed for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and came close to qualifying for the Olympics. He thinks he may have secured a place had it not been for symptoms caused by a cancer he did not yet know he had.

Archie told STV News: “I started to experience strange episodes where I would feel nauseous, strange senses of déjà vu, a distinct sense of fear and a feeling of loss in my understanding of space.

“The diagnosis after an MRI came back unfortunately as a form of brain cancer, a form of incurable brain cancer that is one day going to take my life.”

Brain cancer is the biggest killer of children and adults under 40.

Goodburn has been campaigning with Brain Cancer Justice, a group made up of people who have the disease or have family and friends affected by it.

This week in Edinburgh they held a walk, with some members donning immobilisation masks – worn during radiotherapy – to highlight their campaign.

Members, including Goodburn, want to see increased investment in brain cancer care and research. A key change he is calling for is improved patient access to genomic testing.

“Out of all the developed nations, the UK ranks 22nd out of 29 developed nations, so we’re lacking and dragging our feet there,” he said.

Another member of the group is Dawn Kennedy.

Her son Jay was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2020, shortly after beginning his studies at the University of Strathclyde. He died just a year later, aged 20.

Dawn and her family have channelled their grief into fundraising and campaigning.

She told STV News: “The options available are just so limited and when it’s your child, those words are just indescribable. What’s left is our love – what do you do with that love and what do you do with the power of that love.

“You want to put it to good use. I want his life to continue to have a purpose.”