TRUCK driver Brian Walker saw his GP after finally giving in to some gentle “nagging” from his wife about a lump on his arm.

Eight months on, the dad-of-four has finally returned to work in the knowledge that a decision by his wife Helen, 44, to make that appointment almost certainly saved his arm – for the lump was an aggressive and rare cancer.

Brian assumed the 50p-sized lump on his left arm was a reaction to an insect bite.

But after medical investigations doctors confirmed it was a little known kind of tumour – so rare only five cases are recorded.

Brian and Helen, from Longtown, are now planning a radical fundraiser to say thank you to caring charity – Maggie’s Cancer Centre next to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital – that has helped them through the experience.

With Brian now back at work, the couple told their story to encourage others to seek medical advice if they find a lump on their skin.

When he first spotted the lump, Brian was unconcerned. But as the months passed, and the lump refused to go, Helen became increasingly worried and determined that Brian should get a medical opinion.

So she took matters into her own hands, making an appointment with his GP. The doctor referred him to The Cumberland Infirmary, though Brian was sufficiently unconcerned to turn up at the hospital in his truck.

Following a biopsy, medics in Carlisle were unable to make a diagnosis and so referred Brian on to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

“I’m your typical truck driver,” said Brian.

“My approach was along the lines of ‘It’s only a lump – it will be fine.’ But as women sometimes do, my wife nagged me about it.

“At the infirmary, the dermatology department didn’t know what it was, so they transferred me to Newcastle for an MRI scan.”

Initially, doctors thought Brian had skin cancer, but further investigations revealed he was suffering from an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour – a growth that usually forms invisibly inside a patient’s body.

Surgeons removed the lump on November 17 last year, and six days later used skin and muscle from his back to repair the wound.

As Brian went through the treatment, the couple were supported and advised by Maggie’s Cancer Centre and now they want to say thank you by raising cash for the charity, with Helen, a mobile hairdresser, volunteering for a sponsored head shave. Brian will wield the scissors.

He said: “I had my operations in the Freeman Hospital and the follow-up treatment in the Royal Victoria Hospital. They were brilliant.

“Maggie’s Cancer Centre was so welcoming. The people there were unbelievably good.

“When you’re in hospital, everything is clinical. Then you walk into Maggie’s Cancer Centre next door and it’s just so nice. You can collect your thoughts, and relax.

“We all know the impact cancer can have, and when you’re going through what we’ve just gone through, it’s great to have somewhere like that where they understand.

“It’s not just the support. They give you practical help and advice with things like filling in forms. It doesn’t matter what kind of cancer you have. But all the money that they need has to be raised.

“If it wasn’t for that centre, people would have nowhere else to go. They’d have to sit in a cafe.”

Brian and Helen are keen to tell anybody who finds a lump to seek medical advice.

“If you find a lump, get it checked out,” said Brian.

“At the time, I thought ‘It’s not hurting me,’ so I just left it. Some people complain if their wife nags them but going to to that appointment had a big impact on my life.

“I don’t know where I’d be now if I hadn’t gone.”

Helen said: “Brian was suffering from an aggressive and malignant cancer.

“I’m very pleased I got him to go to the doctor. He could have lost his arm if he hadn’t been treated. The point is you can’t just regard a lump as nothing.

“It should be checked out.”

Brian, due to have a check up in Newcastle next month, said a big thank you to his boss Paul Braithwaite, who he said has been brilliant. 

Helen’s head shave will be at Longtown Community Centre on Saturday, March 5, starting some time after 1.30pm.

Anybody who wants to sponsor her can do so via her Just Giving page, finding it at www.justgiving.com/Helen-Walker31

They already have pledges of £500 but hope to raise more. The couple have four children – Aaron, 18, Natalie, 17, Bethany, 15, and Madison, who will be nine this week.