READ MORE: Surprising first signs of brain cancer everyone MUST knowSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy EMMA NELSON, HEALTH REPORTER Published: 09:51 BST, 16 July 2026 | Updated: 09:55 BST, 16 July 2026
A 21-year-old man died from an incurable brain tumour – just four weeks after doctors mistook his symptoms for an ear infection.Tyler Morton, an artist from Bedford, first complained of an earache in January before the left side of his face suddenly went numb and he struggled to walk.After a trip to the hospital, he was diagnosed with an ear infection and vertigo, and sent home with antibiotics.The antibiotics made no difference and his condition quickly deteriorated. He began vomiting and lost function on the entire left side of his body.A CT scan revealed a lesion on his brain, and following a biopsy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, he was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma.Glioblastoma is an aggressive type of brain cancer with no known cure. Around 3,200 people in the UK are diagnosed every year, with only one third surviving beyond a year.The average survival is between 12 and 18 months. Tyler Morton died just weeks after discovering he had brain cancerMr Morton was told he was too ill to undergo treatment such as chemotherapy which may have extended his life. He died on March 25th, just weeks after his symptoms first appeared.His sister Ella Morton, 19, a mechanic, said: 'Everything happened so quickly and he deteriorated so fast.''Three weeks before his diagnosis he was walking and talking, and then he couldn't do anything himself. 'He was just a body at that point. Tyler was discharged from hospital to basically pass away at home.' 'He was an amazing older brother. He was funny and kind – the sort of brother I went to for anything.'We both lived with our grandma and we were inseparable. I was distraught nothing could be done for him.'Ms Morton said the family are angry that the cancer wasn't found sooner, when 'a lot more could have been done for him'. 'At least that would have felt like we tried,' she added. Ms Morton is now working with the charity Brain Tumour Research on fundraising initiatives.
