Handsome ‘Cleopatra’ Netflix Star Craig Russell, 47, Diagnosed With a Brain Tumor After Headache Symptoms Mistaken For Dehydration

The British actor, who is known for acting as Marc Antony in Netflix’s “African Queens: Cleopatra,” told the news outlet, “As an actor, my life can be hectic. When you’re on set, there are a lot of moving parts and people rely on you to perform at your best. So while I’ve always been conscious of my health and fitness and a regular gym-goer, it’s fair to say that I’ve sometimes put my wellbeing on the back burner.”

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Russell recounted first experiencing symptoms, shooting pain in his head and hearing a weird sound, in September 2022. He continued, “My wife, Kate, had been worried about the state of my brain for a while. I was increasingly forgetful, and becoming more and more clumsy. Kate was concerned that it could be early onset dementia, though I’m only 47. ”

“As the months ploughed on towards Christmas, we both tried to put it all to the back of our minds. But there were intense headaches in the back of my skull when I woke up every morning, and I was struggling to read despite never having been prescribed glasses. I felt anxious and not at all myself.”

Aside from his head pain and eyesight problems, Russell also noted he had frightening bouts of confusion. However, a “doctor friend” of his thought he was possibly suffering from a viral infection, while another friend suspected him to be having anxiety.

Russell continued, “I used to have lots of cold showers and I did Wim Hof breathing to improve my physical and mental health, so I got back on that having slipped while my symptoms were coming on. I started to drink an awful lot of water as I thought I might have been dehydrated, and as if by magic those daily headaches disappeared. Sorted, I thought.”

He ultimately got checked in midst of January 2023, thanks to his wife pushing him to get checked by a doctor, which led him to learned he was going blind in his left eye. He was also advised to get a CT scan, followed by an MRI scan, which revealed he had a brain tumor.

One week after learning his MRI results, his surgeon informed him he likely had a meningioma, “a kind of tumor that sits between the brain and the spinal cord, and that it had been growing there for 15 years,”

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Meningioma is the most common type of primary brain tumor, accounting for approximately 30 percent of all brain tumors.These tumors originate in the meninges, which are the outer three layers of tissue between the skull and the brain that cover and protect the brain just under the skull.

“Meningiomas grow out of the middle layer of the meninges called the arachnoid. They grow slowly and may exist for years before being detected. Sometimes doctors will discover a meningioma incidentally on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the head or spinal cord.”

Russel recounted the tumor being the size of a lime and It was the size of a lime, which was pushing on his brain.

He ended up undergoing a seven-hour surgery to remove the tumor, as well as put in a new skull for him, created from “concrete-plastic mix.”

Russell recounted how he had 55 staples put into the back of his head following the surgery to close everything up, which he had since had removed.

The optimistic actor continued telling the Telegraph, “Only 12 percent of people who are diagnosed with a brain tumor live for longer than five years, and it looks like I’m firmly going to be one of them. My most recent scan revealed that the tumor shows no signs of returning and because it was benign, I didn’t have to go through chemotherapy.

“But 18 months on I’m still reeling from the surgery. I bumped my head the other week and collapsed in a heap on the floor, because while all the nerve endings are reconnecting up there, it’s incredibly painful to apply pressure on my scalp. My memory still isn’t quite what it was and I’m still plagued by brain fog and forgetfulness. Migraines remain a part of my life. But I’m amazed by my own recovery, and especially by the fact that my eyesight is now perfect again.”

Since Russell’s cancer battle, the beloved actor has become an ambassador for the following organizations: Brain Tumor Research and Joseph’s Smile. He hopes money will be raised for research into brain cancer and others will be able to prevent finding brain tumors at a late stage.

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Understanding Brain Tumors

Brain tumors impact a person’s brain function and overall health, depending on their size, type, and location within the brain. Tumors that grow big enough and disrupt normal central nervous system functioning can press on nearby nerves, blood vessels, or other tissues. The disrupted central nervous system can present in various ways, making walking or maintaining balance difficult.

Brain tumors may be benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous). There are various types of brain tumors, with gliomas being the most common cancerous type of aggressive primary brain tumors.

What is a Glioma: Understanding Types & Standard of Care

Glioblastoma is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor, which means her brain tumor “grows and spreads very quickly,” according to the National Cancer Institute.

However, in Craig Russell’s case, he was diagnosed with a meningioma, a growth that is often noncancerous that takes root in the meninges, a membrane protecting the brain and spinal cord.

Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan the director of medical neuro-oncology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston says, “essentially the brain and the spinal cord float in this sac called the meninges.”

“Your brain is kind of a soft tissue.  It’s almost like a sponge,” Dr. Jeyapalan explains. ” And every time you move your head, you’d be bruising your brain because you’re hitting up against  the hard bone, the skull.  So one of the things that evolution has done is that your brain is sort of floating in a sort of natural shock absorber, as you were, so this fluid” contained in the meninges.

There is still no indication as to what may cause meningiomas, but the growths are more prevalent in women than men and in individuals who have a family history with the tumor. Radiation to the head may also increase the risk of developing a meningioma. In the United States, Black people have higher rates of meningioma than white people.

What Are Symptoms of a Meningioma?

The signs and symptoms of a meningioma depend on its location, according to the National Cancer Institute, and may even be subtle at first.

Even though a meningioma isn’t technically a brain tumor, the symptoms are relatively the same as other brain tumors, such as a glioblastoma. The symptoms of a brain tumor, or even brain cancer if the tumor is malignant, can frequently and easily change, Jeyapalan tells SurvivorNet.

“But for I think this is the take home message for I think a lot of patients: Brain cancer is actually really rare,” Jeyapalan said. “Lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, are much more common.”

“Everybody’s always scared about getting their brain tumor and, you know, ‘Oh, should I be using my cell phone or what not,’ and I tell them, ‘No, you should be much more scared about the fact that you’re, you know, you’re hypertensive, you’re diabetic, you have high cholesterol, you’re overweight, you’re not exercising enough,” she added.

Symptoms can include:

• Changes in vision seeing double or blurriness
• Headaches, especially ones that are worse in the morning
• Hearing loss
• Memory loss or confusion
• Loss of smell
• Seizures

It’s recommended that you see a doctor if you have the sudden onset of seizures, or changes in vision or memory as it could be a meningioma; most of the time, meningioma symptoms develop slowly over time, but sometimes can require emergency care.

RELATED: Miraculous Recovery: Father Diagnosed With Stage 4 Brain Cancer at 27 Beat the Odds to Reach Remission — Twice

Make an appointment with your doctor if you feel you have symptoms, such as headaches that worsen over time, that concern you. But most times, meningiomas are only discovered on scans for reasons that turn out to be unrelated to the tumor.

But it’s important to remember to advocate for yourself.

Types of Cancerous and Non-Cancerous Brain Tumors

A brain tumor can affect you differently depending on its location and if it is cancerous. Some brain tumors are non-cancerous (or benign). According to the National Cancer Institute, some examples of these types of brain tumors include:

• Chordomas are primarily benign and slow-growing and are often found near the tailbone or where the spine meets the skull.
• Craniopharyngiomas are rare, slow-growing tumors that don’t spread to other parts of the brain or body. They form near the pituitary gland near the base of the brain.
• Gangliocytomas are rare tumors of the central nervous system that tend to form on the temporal lobe (the left or right side of the brain).
• Glomus jugulare are rare and slow-growing tumors.
• Meningiomas are rare brain tumors that usually form on the outer layer of tissue that covers the brain (dura mater).
• Pineocytomas are rare and slow-growing tumors located in the pineal gland near the middle of the brain.
• Pituitary adenomas are slow-growing brain tumors of the anterior pituitary located in the lower part of the brain.
• Schwannomas are rare tumors that grow on the cells that protect nerve cells. They are called Schwann cells.
• Acoustic neuromas (vestibular schwannoma) are slow-growing tumors that develop from the nerves that help balance and hearing.

Other brain tumors are malignant or cancerous. These kinds of tumors include:

• Gliomas are the most common form of cancerous and aggressive primary brain tumors.
• Astrocytoma (glioma) forms in astrocytes (star-shaped cells). Depending on how aggressive or fast they grow and impact brain tissue, these tumors are classified into four grades.
• Ependymomas are tumors classified into three grades depending on how aggressive or fast they grow.
• Oligodendroglioma tumors are classified into grades depending on their growth speed. Grade 2 oligodendroglioma tumors are slow-growing and can invade nearby tissue, but they may not present symptoms for many years before detection. Meanwhile, grade 3 oligodendroglioma tumors proliferate.
• Medulloblastoma tumors are classified into four different grades depending on their aggressive nature or how quickly they grow.
• Glioblastoma, which is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor, is the most common and aggressive brain tumor in adults.

Treatment Options for Brain Cancer

Treatment options for brain cancer depend on a variety of factors, including the size and type of the tumor as well as the grade of the tumor.

Understanding the Treatment Path for Glioma Patients

Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are options doctors use to treat brain tumors. Cancer warriors are encouraged to talk to their doctor about their situation and the best treatment options.

The prognosis for brain cancer, or how likely it is to be cured, depends on a few things:

• The type of brain tumor
• How fast the brain tumor is growing
• The tumor’s location
• If there are DNA changes in the cells of the brain tumor
• If the entire tumor can be removed with surgery
• Your overall health

Your doctor will be able to help you understand your specific and unique circumstances and how they relate to your prognosis.

Avoiding Provider Bias – Is Your Doctor Understanding You?

While your doctor has undergone years of training and practice, they are still human, and may come with their own set of biases that can impact how they treat patients.

To combat these biases and really get the most out of your interactions with your doctor, you should provide her or him with plenty of information about your life and ask plenty of questions when things aren’t clear. To better understand how you should approach conversations with your doctor, we previously spoke with Dr. Dana Chase, gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology.

According to Dr. Chase, physicians, like many of us, can be a bit biased when seeing patients. She made it clear that these biases are rarely sinister, but rather unconscious and more subtle.

She explained, “We have certain beliefs that we don’t know about. We might look, for example, at an older woman, and just by the way she looks we might make certain assumptions, and we might not even know that we’re making these assumptions.”

Let’s Talk About Provider Bias

Clearing up misconceptions is important, but so is understanding what your doctor is telling you, Dr. Chase noted. Overall, she advises women to speak up and ask questions when they don’t understand something.

“It’s never a bad thing to ask for something to be repeated, or to ask the doctors to explain it in different terms.”

So next time you go to your physician, speak up if you need clarity, so your doctor can understand you and you can understand them.

WATCH: The Role of Surgery in Treating Gliomas

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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