‘I went to the doctor with a croaky voice - and they found a brain tumour 
the size of a golf ball’

And when surgeons cut into his skull to remove a tumour bigger than a golf ball that would have eventually killed him, Richard realised he had acted just in time.

Mr Wheatley, aged 50, of Touchstone Road, Warwick, said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to still be here today – a croaky voice saved my life.

“I think it all started when I began losing muscle from around my right shoulder. I had that checked out but no-one could really say what was wrong, so I just carried on with my life.”

A keen runner, who has completed the London Marathon twice, he carried on but felt things still didn’t seem quite right.

“Some time later I began having problems with my throat, losing my voice and coughing. I found a bit of difficulty in swallowing. I then noticed I sometimes felt slightly unsteady on my feet.

“I had been on the summits of Snowdon and Ben Nevis in the summer but a trip to the Lake District in November worried me because I seemed so unsteady on my feet.

“I actually thought old age might be catching up with me,” said the relationship manager with NatWest bank.

But, while on holiday in St Lucia with wife Carol, and enjoying a “long and slightly drunken” chat at the bar with other holidaymakers, one of them asked if there was something wrong with his voice.

He had already thought his voice was changing but his family hadn’t mentioned it and it was then he decided to seek help.

Mr Wheatley explained things to his GP, Dr Andrew Kennedy in Warwick, he was sent for MRI and CT scans and then to consultant Dr David Phillips, in Leamington, who immediately referred him to consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon Richard Irving at the BMI Priory private hospital in Birmingham.

Scans revealed a large benign tumour within the skull that was compressing nerves in the brain affecting speech, balance and ability to swallow.

The operation involved removing some of the base of the skull to allow Mr Irving and consultant neurosurgeon Richard Walsh to get to the tumour.

Mr Irving said: “We were able to remove it completely. Richard is making a great recovery but it is fortunate that he sought medical advice when he did.”

A relieved Mr Wheatley said: “Mr Irving was brilliant. He explained the seriousness of the situation but he never left me in any doubt that he knew how to deal with it.

“Things have improved massively. I’m still recuperating and have trouble with my voice if I talk for too long but, when you consider what the alternative could have been, I consider myself lucky to be alive.”