Musical theatre star Alfie Boe was 23 when his dad (and namesake) Alfred died of a brain tumour.
He became a patron of Brain Tumour Research 27 year later – a charity that raises funds to find a cure. Naturally, Alfred’s diagnosis had a momentous impact on his son. His response to it surprised him, too.
Alfie – on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show tonight (February 15) – told his beloved’s story last summer…
Alfie Boe on early signs of dad’s illness
Alfred Boe first started having conspicuously bad headaches in his early sixties. Alfie was 40 years younger than his dad, and “feels his loss very deeply even now”, nearly three decades after his death.
His headaches were accompanied by problems with his eyesight. A GP dismissed them as symptoms of the flu, and sent him away with some antibiotics, Alfie wrote when he took up the mantle at Brain Tumour Research.
An optician had a very different opinion, and urged him to get a brain scan immediately. They thought he might have suffered a stroke; but a biopsy proved them wrong.
Doctors explained to Alfie, his siblings and their mum that Alfred had an “aggressive, inoperable” brain tumour, “and there was nothing they could do”.
“It was a very intense, awful experience and I remember even to this day how Dad was so apologetic,” Alfie wrote.
“It was crazy,” he said. “He was the one who had been told this dreadful news and yet there he was saying sorry to us and feeling guilty because he was unwell.”
Alfie’s anger
Alfred received radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but neither seemed to work. People suggested they consider travelling to the US, where new treatments were being developed and tested.
But Alfie appreciates now more than ever that there are “no effective treatments”, which gives him some comfort that they didn’t make any drastic decisions.
However, he also feels angry that the situation for patients like his father hasn’t changed much.
“I feel incredibly sad to think that families are still facing this awful diagnosis and, nearly 30 years later, there have been so few advances in treatment.”
He wants the government to invest more in brain tumour research, and is a proud patron of the charity.
Brain Tumour Research says it’s “determined” to change the status quo regarding how much funding is available to those attempting to find a cure.
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show airs Saturday, February 15 at 6:50pm on BBC One.
Read more: Alfie Boe on visiting his children after ex-wife moved to California following split
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