And was functional up to the end.
Medical history
Investigating officers found that Whitman had visited several University doctors in the year before the shootings; they prescribed various medications for him. Whitman had seen a minimum of five doctors between the fall and winter of 1965, before he visited a psychiatrist from whom he received no prescription. At some other time he was prescribed Valium by Dr. Jan Cochrum, who recommended he visit the campus psychiatrist.[49]
Whitman met with Dr. Maurice Dean Heatly, the staff psychiatrist at the University of Texas Health Center, on March 29, 1966.[50] Whitman referred to his visit with Heatly in his final suicide note, writing, "I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come [sic] overwhelming violent impulses. After one visit, I never saw the Doctor again, and since then have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail."[40]
Heatly's notes on the visit said, "This massive, muscular youth seemed to be oozing with hostility [...] that something seemed to be happening to him and that he didn't seem to be himself."[51] "He readily admits having overwhelming periods of hostility with a very minimum of provocation. Repeated inquiries attempting to analyze his exact experiences were not too successful with the exception of his vivid reference to 'thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people.'"[52]
Autopsy
Although Whitman had been prescribed drugs, and was in possession of Dexedrine at the time of his death, no toxicology test was performed at first because Whitman had been embalmed on August 1, after the body was brought to the Cook Funeral Home in Austin. However, an autopsy had been requested in the suicide notes left by Whitman, and was then approved by his father.[53]
On August 2, an autopsy was conducted by Dr. Chenar (a neuropathologist at Austin State Hospital) at the funeral home. Urine and blood were removed to test for traces of amphetamines or other substances.[54] During the autopsy, Chenar discovered a "pecan-sized" brain tumor, which he labeled an astrocytoma and which exhibited a small amount of necrosis. Chenar concluded that the tumor had no effect on Whitman's actions, but this result was later revised by the Connally Commission.[55]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman#Medical_history
The effects of a brain tumor depend entirely on the location in the brain. My sister died of a glioblastoma multiforma. Her initial symptoms were severe headaches. Once the first tumor mass was removed she was fully functional for several months, then the regrowth caused damage to the parietal region of the brain and she lost language ability. She could understand what was said to her and attempt to respond but the wrong words would come out. She could even understand that what she said was wrong but was unable to correct herself. Even close to the end she was physically able to do things, but her mental abilities had been suppressed as the tumor eventually filled her prefrontal cortex.
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