In 2017, Adam Tjolle accidentally discovered he had a brain tumour. At the time, presenter and close friend Claudia Hammond followed him on his journey before, during and after undergoing life-changing surgery. Meeting up now in Malawi, Adam and Claudia listen back to the old recordings and reflect on what has changed for Adam since his operation. Adam still lives in Scotland, but his new life after brain surgery sometimes brings him to Malawi, where he works with the Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA). Claudia joins Adam and Dr Tino Razemba at one of the LSPCA’s ‘spay days’, neutering local dogs in underserved communities. As well as getting involved, Claudia has a chance to see Adam’s passion first-hand. Prior to his surgery, Adam’s prognosis was a life expectancy of seven years. That time period has now passed. So what does life mean to Adam now? And today, as one in two people born after 1960 will receive a cancer diagnosis at some point, what can the rest of us can learn from Adam’s experience of living with uncertainty? Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Sophie Ormiston and Paula McGrath
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Hello and welcome to Health Check from the BBC.
I'm Claudia Hammond and today I'm in Malawi in East Africa.
And the reason is that I'm meeting my friend Adam, the vet.
Some years ago I followed him as he made the decision to have life changing brain surgery and recorded our conversations during his recovery and we thought seven years on we'd catch up and find out what he's doing in Malawi.
I'm going to look back with Adam on what in a way is a personal archive for him.
This is how it all began back in 2017.
I hit the edge of the road and went flying and I remember going wee as I was flying through the air and the next thing I remember I woke up in an ambulance and they did a CT of my head and on the CT they actually saw a small black hole.
I remember joking with the doctor at the time to say, well, I'm glad you didn't see one big black hole, thinking, didn't have a brain.
And I came out of the scanner and they all looked a bit pale and I kind of panicked at the time.
I thought, God, this is not what I expected.