An elite Scottish swimmer whose Olympic dreams were quashed by incurable brain tumours has been given a ‘new hope’ thanks to a breakthrough drug.
Archie Goodburn, 24, bagged bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Hungary in 2019.
He had dreams of representing Great Britain as a swimmer in the 2024 Paris Olympics – but his hopes were brought to a screeching halt when he began to experience unexplained seizures.
The young athlete missed out on a spot on the Olympic squad by a fraction of a second, and following this, he had a private MRI scan.
And in May 2024 his ‘worst fear’ materialised when he was diagnosed with three large oligodendrogliomas – a rare form of diffuse and progressive brain cancer – which are inoperable.
In an Instagram post at the time, Goodburn told his followers: ‘Six weeks ago, my life experienced a profound change as I was diagnosed with three brain tumours.
‘In December 2023, my training began to be interrupted by strange episodes. These episodes, initially thought to be hemiplegic migraines, would occur during hard training.
‘They would leave me with a loss of strength and a numb sensation on my left side, a deep feeling of fear, nausea and extreme deja vu.
‘I now know that these were in fact seizures. The seizures grew in intensity and frequency in the lead-up to the 2024 Olympic trials in April, something I’d aimed for and trained for almost my entire life.’
Archie Goodburn, 24, previously bagged bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships in Hungary in 2019 (pictured in 2023)
The elite Scottish swimmer now has a ‘new hope’ thanks to breakthrough drug, Vorasidenib (pictured in 2019)
Originally, he was told chemotherapy or radiotherapy were the only options to slow down the tumours’ progression.
But now a daily tablet could offer him an alternative to the gruelling side effects of traditional treatment.
Vorasidenib, the first treatment for this type of cancer in over 20 years, was created by French pharmaceutical firm, Servier.
It has since been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK’s medicines watchdog, for use on British soil on Wednesday.
Trials have shown Vorasidenib doubles survival time from 11 to 28 months, and now the swimmer is calling for it to be available across the NHS.
After becoming eligible two months ago, the athlete has been taking it as part of a compassionate access scheme.
Now, Goodburn hopes to take part in the Commonwealth Games next year in Glasgow to represent his country in the 50m backstroke.
The athlete, who trains 11 times a week, is also undertaking a chemical engineering master’s degree at Edinburgh University with a focus on cancer drugs.
He told The Times: ‘I was told my tumours were incurable and inoperable. It was something that was probably going to kill me, but they couldn’t do anything,’ said Goodburn.
‘Vorasidenib has given me hope that I can compete in the Commonwealth Games. It is impossible to look too far ahead, and I have a scan every three months to see if the tumour is growing or laying dormant.
‘The psychological stress of having a ticking time bomb in your brain is unbelievable. There’s not a second that goes by in your day where you don’t think about it.’
The drug is now set to be submitted to health watchdog, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice), before being distributed across the NHS.
Goodburn revealed his diagnosis in an Instagram post but vowed to keep being ‘Archie’
Vorasidenib is already used as treatment for brain cancer in multiple countries, including the US.
The biggest killer for those under the age of 40 is brain cancer, however, the condition is given less than one percent in research funding.
Of the recent MHRA approval for the drug, the Astro Brain Tumour fund said it was ‘an important milestone for the low-grade glioma brain tumour’.
Paula Valencia, general manager of Servier UK, said: ‘Bringing the first targeted therapy in over 20 years to the UK is an important step forward for people living with Grade 2 IDH-mutant glioma.
‘It reflects years of research and collaboration, and offers patients, many in their thirties and forties, a new option to slow disease progression.
‘Access is a priority, and we are committed to working closely with the government and health authorities so that we can bring this new medicine to eligible patients in the UK.’
