'I feel 10 years younger after emergency surgery relieved pressure on my brain': Welsh town mayor returns to work after brain surgery

Robust Councillor Tom Taylor caught the train back home from Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital about 36 hours after surgeons drilled two holes in his head and drained fluid from his brain.

The 72 year-old mayor of Knighton had been suffering blinding headaches since September 1 and also noticed the strength in his right arm was poor, he lost dexterity in his right hand, his right leg was dragging and he was struggling to speak to people.

Initially prescribed painkillers which eased the headaches but did not stop them, Tom returned to the doctors for various tests and scans but nothing appeared to be wrong.

But as he made his way to Gloucestershire to visit family he received a call from the doctor telling him to go immediately to a major hospital – he had a bleed on the brain and the fluid was shutting down the left side of his brain.

“I was not really scared, I was just aware that something was wrong. The doctor thought I was at home but I was in Gloucestershire so she suggested going to Cheltenham. But there is a direct train to Hereford and I thought it would be easier for my son who lives in Wrexham and others to visit me, so I got the train to Hereford.

“At Hereford A and E they did all the tests and put me on a ward and said I would be going to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham but there were no beds. So I stayed in Hereford for five nights under observation and then early on Sunday, November 16 an ambulance came to take me to Birmingham.”