Tragic diagnosis after trip to Ibiza: man can now only blink

Dozens turned out to support Oli Coppock as they ran 33 miles in his aid

A man is “trapped in his body” and “can only blink” as his friends and family desperately try to raise as much money as possible for his rehabilitation care. Oli Coppock was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2023 and doctors discovered he had a brain tumor in the fourth ventricle. After a trip to Ibiza in August, he was told that the tumor had grown and Oli would have to undergo a very risky operation to have the mass removed.

The 32-year-old from Warrington completed intensive radiotherapy without any problems and traveled to the Christie Cancer Center in Manchester every day for treatment for six weeks. To mark the completion of this journey, Oli got a Spartan tattoo, which his sister said was meant to show that he was a warrior who could fight anything that came his way.

But on May 11 this year, Oli began suffering from headaches, nausea and fatigue and his sister Saff Coppock, 22, previously told the ECHO: “He was really worried at this point and felt dizzy and unwell. He said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ ‘I don’t know if it’s maybe nothing,’ but he really wanted to look at it.”

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Doctors initially turned Oli away, but on May 22 he was admitted to hospital after his family begged for medical assistance. The next day in the ward he was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest.

An MRI showed Oli had hydrocephalus, a condition that occurs when there is too much fluid in the brain and can be fatal if left untreated. During an emergency operation to drain the fluid, Oli suffered cardiac arrest on the operating table.

After surviving that, he had to undergo three more high-risk surgeries over the next two weeks. Oli spent six weeks in an intensive care unit before being transferred to a high-care unit. He now breathes through a tracheostomy and is fed through a tube.

On Sunday September 29th, around 40 people took part in a 53km walk from Manchester to Liverpool, finishing the day’s walk at Caribou Poutine on Hardman Street in Liverpool city centre. Speaking to the ECHO in the final hour of the walk, Oli’s girlfriend Beth Wright, 33, who he has been with for four years, said: “Today’s walk was to raise awareness but also to raise funds for Oli collect.”

“We don’t know exactly whether Oli will be okay, we don’t know what the future holds. We’ve been told in the past that he needs to go into a nursing home, but at the moment he’s in rehabilitation. “It could be another three, four, five years or another six months before we have to think about his care.

A fundraising campaign was launched in Oli’s name, raising more than £20,000 in a month. Beth continued: “He’s not great, he can’t talk, he can’t walk, he can’t speak, he can’t drink, he can’t eat. He is trapped in his body. He can’t do anything.” Before he could, he can only blink.

When asked about the walk, Beth said: “It was absolutely amazing, we have all his family, my family, and then we have his friends and my friends. At one point there were 50 or 60 of us people here, including those who came out to support us. It’s amazing how many people came up to us and asked us about the walk. To read more or donate to the GoFundMe, click here.