Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Can you hear me now??
Business executive who claimed spending six hours a day on his mobile gave him brain cancer dies aged 44
Ian Phillips was found to have a lemon-sized tumour on his brain. He had surgery and chemotherapy but was told he had just 3 years to live. He campaigned against phones after claiming his mobile caused his cancer.
Family say they have received hundreds of tributes from all over the world.
By ANNA HODGEKISS and MADLEN DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:40 EST, 20 May 2016
to see the photos- click HERE
A businessman who claimed using his mobile phone for six hours a day gave him brain cancer has died at the age of 44. Ian Phillips spent his last months warning about the risks of long exposure to radiation from mobiles.
”‹”‹After going to hospital with a bad headache, he was given the devastating news he had a lemon-sized brain tumour – and has just three years to live.
Mr Phillips claimed his cancer was caused by excessive use of his mobile phone, as his job as an operations manager for a large firm required him to spend more than 100 hours a month making calls.
Speaking in February 2015, he said: ‘My ear would be red when I left work at the end of the day. I didn’t think what it was doing to my brain.’
As well as undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment in a bid to beat the cancer, he received alternative medicine, changed his diet, and regularly exercised.
Ian Phillips claimed spending six hours a day on a mobile phone gave him a brain tumour. He spent his last months warning about the risks of long exposure to radiation from mobiles – and used a bright gold receiver (pictured) to make calls. He died this week aged 44
After driving himself to hospital with a blinding headache, an MRI scan revealed Mr Phillips had a lemon-sized tumour next to his right ear. The scan is pictured (it is mirrored, so the left side of the scan shows the right side of the brain)
His younger sister, Nicky, said: ‘Ian was an amazing person. It’s heartbreaking, but he was a real fighter and we are so proud of him.
‘We are all absolutely devastated but we are getting so much comfort from messages from people all over the world.’
Instead of giving flowers mourners at his funeral next Friday are asked to donate to the Brainstrust charity he supported.
Mr Phillips, head of healthcare diagnostic imaging for a large global firm, was hit by a sudden blinding headache and drove himself to A&E in the middle of the night.
He was given a brain scan on an MRI machine which he had installed himself just two weeks earlier at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
Mr Phillips underwent a nine hour operation to remove his tumour (his scars are pictured, left and right, after the operation)
The scan revealed a Grade 3 brain tumour the size of a lemon and Mr Phillips underwent a nine-hour emergency operation to remove most of it.
But he was given the horrific news that the brain cancer could not be cured and was advised to make the most of the little time he had left.
Mr Phillips, from Cardiff, said: ‘I was devastated – the first thing I asked the doctors was what had caused it.
I tell people that I am convinced my cancer was caused by using my mobile up to six hours a day. Even doctors won’t argue with me when I tell them how much time I was spending on it
‘But I knew right from the start that it was due to my excessive use of my mobile – I was on it all the time.
‘I have spent a lot of time since researching this and the number of brain tumours is going up.
‘I am really concerned about young children using mobiles – their skulls are softer and radiation from these devices can reach their brains more easily.’
Mr Phillips invested in a shiny gold hand receiver which he plugs into his mobile to make and receive calls, meaning he doesn’t have to hold the phone to his ear.
He said: ‘I bought a gold one to draw attention to the potential dangers of mobiles.
‘Strangers ask me why I use a hand held receiver and I tell them they would too if they had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
‘I tell people that I am convinced my cancer was caused by using my mobile up to six hours a day.
‘Even my doctors won’t argue with me when I tell them how much time I was spending on it at work.’
Mr Phillips estimated he was talking for more than 100 hours a month on his Blackberry – because of his high-pressure job.
He said: ‘I was a successful rugby player, extremely fit and I never got ill – not even with a cold. But now I have this.
‘The irony is that the tumour was discovered on one of the diagnostic machines that I installed at hospitals all over the country.’
Mr Phillips was forced to quit his £100,000 a year job due to his illness, and launched a campaign to raise awareness to the risks of using mobile phones
He said: ‘They gave me three years to live but I will prove them wrong time and again.
‘The tumour has shrunk to nothing once but it’s back now and I’m having chemo again.
‘But I am convinced that it will disappear again before my current course of chemotherapy is complete.’
Mr Phillips was forced to quit his £110,000 a year job because of his illness.
The former Caerphilly RFC second row forward spent his last few years with his girlfriend and his parents Norman and Lesley, mainly watching rugby and going to the gym.
Before his death he launched a campaign to highlight the dangers of mobile phones, convinced he can inform others of the risks.
He persuaded Welsh rugby stars Rhys Priestland and Jonathan Davies to shave their heads for the Brains Trust charity he supports.
He said: ‘I will beat my tumour but in the meantime I need to get the message across that mobile phones can be dangerous.
‘I used mine too much, I know that – but people need to be made aware of the risks and start switching to hand-held receivers. It could save their lives.’
For more information visit Brains Trust website: http://www.brainstrust.org.uk/
DO MOBILES CAUSE CANCER? IT’S TOO EARLY TO TELL, EXPERTS WARN
The potential connection between mobile phones and cancer is a controversial debate.
Countless studies have failed to provide a consensus about the degree of cancer risk.
The key concern is that phones could cause brain tumours.
The latest study, by the University of Sydney, found there is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer.
Researchers found no increase in tumours over the last 29 years, despite an enormous increase in the use of the devices.
+7
Studies on whether mobile phones cause brain tumours come to different conclusions
In Australia, where the study was conducted, 9 per cent of people had a mobile phone in 1993 – a number which has shot up to 90 per cent today.
But in the same period, cancer rates in people aged 20 – 84 rose only slightly in men and remained stable in women.
There were ‘significant’ rises in tumours in the elderly, but the increase began five years before mobile phones arrived in Australia in 1987, the researchers said.
Before this study, the Million Women Study, which included around 790,000 women, also found no link between mobile phone use and brain tumours, or 18 other types of cancer.
+7
Oncology experts advise people who are concerned about a possible link between mobile phones and cancer to limit their phone use, or use a speaker or hands-free device
Another study followed more than 420,000 users over a 20-year period. It found no direct link between mobile phones and brain tumours.
And another piece of research did note a link between mobile phone use and cancer of the salivary glands, but only a small number of study participants had cancerous tumours.
Meanwhile another recent study suggested a possible increased risk of glioma – a specific type of brain tumour – for those using their mobiles a lot. But researchers found no increase in brain tumour risk overall.
In 2012 the Italy’s Supreme Court found there was a ‘causal link’ between phone use and a businessman’s brain tumour diagnosis.