Christopher Sherlock

To learn more about the late author Christopher Sherlock, and the book “The Man Behind The Mask” written by his wife Lynn about his journey with a brain tumor, go to sherlockbooks.net

Christopher Sherlock was born in Birmingham, England in 1955 and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1970. He is an accident survivor. Returning from a weekend spent rock climbing he was involved in a car accident that killed his best friend Keith and his girl friend Sheila. The top of his head sliced off, he was dragged from the car still conscious. He witnessed the death of Sheila and then his friend Keith died next to him in the ambulance. He 'died' twice on the operating table, experienced neuro-surgery,and then the top of his head was stitched back with 176 stitches. Lying in a coma, he was pronounced a vegetable but his father refused to believe this. A month later he came out of the coma, a fully functioning but changed man.

He recounts a near-death experience in which God beckoned him to the other side however he bargained that he wanted life. God said that he could have it but that it would be a nightmare experience. He battled on,completing his university studies, continuing to climb and then working first as a geophysical surveyor, journalist and then in advertising. Struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, he fought on, enjoying success as creative director of one of South Africa's leading advertising agencies.

On 9 May 2014 Christopher suffered a Grand Mal seizure narrowly escaping death. After 5 harrowing days in ICU he was found to have a brain tumour in the right parietal lobe. He learned that without immediate investigative surgery he would have less than 3 months to live. His neurosurgeon, Dr Carle S. Van Heerden, operated on 28 May but found that the tumour's location made it impossible to remove without causing major brain damage. The tumour was found to be lethal - a high-grade glioma (glioblastoma) and radiation and chemo therapy began on 11 June.

Haunted by death, Christopher's thrillers explore the lives of men faced by adversity and catastrophe.

'The Man Behind the Mask' by Lynn Sherlock:

I met and married Christopher Sherlock when we were both in our 50’s. We were not given a great deal of time together though, as after being together for 3 years, Chris was diagnosed with a deadly GBM brain tumour. Chris was a published author of 5 action adventure books, and he wanted to write a non-fiction book about his illness. Unfortunately he never managed to write it, so in his final weeks I promised him I would write it. Prior to that I had never thought about writing a book, but I had kept all the notes I had made in doctors rooms, plus I had the few blogs he wrote during the illness. So I pulled it all together with my perspective as the wife / primary carer, woven in-between. I really hope it can help others going through a similar experience.