Tom Parker: Wanted singer diagnosed with inoperable brain tumor

Tom Parker, one of the members of the boy band The Wanted, has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

The 32-year-old singer said he was “still in shock” after being told he had stage 4 glioblastoma six weeks ago.

“I knew something was wrong, but I never expected it to be.”

Talking to OK! magazine, the singer said he would stay positive, despite being told the cancer was terminal. “I will be here,” he added. “I’m going to fight this.”

Parker rose to fame in the early 2010s as part of The Wanted, reaching number one with the singles All Time Low and Glad You Came.

Since hiatus in 2014, he played Danny Zuko in a touring production of Grease and reached the semi-finals of Celebrity Masterchef.

He married actress Kelsey Hardwick in 2018. The couple have a 16-month-old daughter, Aurelia, and are expecting their second child.

Parker suffered a seizure in July and was put on a waiting list for an MRI. Six weeks later he had another more serious seizure during a family trip to Norwich and was rushed to hospital.

After three days of testing, he was diagnosed with cancer. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, his wife was not allowed to enter the hospital and he received the news on his own.

What is glioblastoma?

• Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain tumor that begins in the brain.
• It is the most aggressive form of brain tumor in adults and is often resistant to treatment.
• The variety of cells in a glioblastoma is thought to be one of the reasons it is so difficult to treat because current medications cannot effectively attack all types of tumor cells.
• As with most brain tumors, the cause of glioblastoma is unknown.

Source: The Brain Tumor Charity

On Monday, the couple posted a message on Instagram telling fans that Parker had started chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

“We are going to fight this to the end,” they said. “We don’t want your sadness, we just want love and positivity and together we will raise awareness about this terrible disease and seek all available treatment options.”

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor in adults. Speaking to OK !, the couple said they hadn’t asked about a timescale on how it’s likely to play out.

“I said because of Tom’s mood and who he is as a person, that would not be good for him,” Hardwick said. “He would literally sit here and count the days and not live his life.”

Parker added: “There are so many stories of people who were given a bad prognosis and are still here five, 10, even 15 years later. We are going to fight this to the end.

The couple were inundated with messages of support Monday morning.

“Always sending so much love and support,” Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington wrote in a comment on her Instagram post.

“We love you Tom!” added James “Arg” Argent of The Only Way Is Essex, who appeared with Parker at ITV’s cancer fundraiser The Real Full Monty in 2018. “We have this brother, definitely!”

Hardwick added that Parker’s bandmates had reunited, with Jay McGuinness and Max George visiting the couple for the past few weeks.

“If you [Kaneswaran] and Nathan [Sykes] They obviously live much further afield, but the four guys have been regularly texting and submitting different articles and possible treatments and therapies that everyone is reading about. They have been incredible. “

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