Doctors told mum symptoms were a virus when she actually had 7 brain tumours
When mum Emma Hollick first started experiencing blurred vision and fatigue she thought this was just caused by working late into the evening at her job in a petrol station. But as her sight worsened she sought help and was told by doctors she likely had a virus.
However, this was far from the truth and just a few months later received the devastating news that she had seven tumours in her brain. This included one that was pressing on her optic nerve, impairing her vision.
The 41-year-old recalled how her symptoms had started in February 2022. She said: “My symptoms started with the loss of vision in one eye. It was all very gradual to start with.
"Then I noticed I had no sensation down the left side of my face - from my eyebrow to my chin. I also had bad headaches and was very fatigued, but I was working nights in a petrol station and assumed I wasn’t coping with the shift pattern very well. I just thought I’ve been overdoing things.”
Emma’s GP “wasn’t too concerned” at the start, she said. "But things got worse instead of better, and I started to get really worried, despite being told by medics that nothing was seriously wrong,” she added.
Between February and May of that year, she visited her GP five or six times, called 111 twice, and went to her local A&E department twice looking for answers. Emma, who lives in Lowestoft in Suffolk, was so concerned that she went to her optician, who got in touch with her GP. She was referred for a neurology appointment but was told there would be an 18-week wait.
Her symptoms continued to get worse and she experienced headaches and a persistent watery eye so she went to A&E for a second time. "I spent the whole day at the eye clinic undergoing tests,” Emma said. "They thought I might have MS so they booked me in for an MRI scan on May 31."
Then, on June 8, Emma was in the ASDA car park with her children when she got a call from her GP with some “terrifying” news. The GP explained how she didn't have MS but she had seven meningioma tumours and one was pressing on her optic nerve and would need to be removed.
Emma said: "When you get told something like that, your whole world stops. It was completely terrifying. Two of my children were in the car with me and they heard it too.
"I got back into the car and my children heard parts of the conversation. I spoke to them and one was screaming in the back of the car and my other child was sitting sobbing in the passenger seat. I was shell-shocked. I had a moment where the world was spinning around me at 110 miles per hour.”
She added: “A brain tumour diagnosis was the last thing I was expecting. I really did not see that coming. Looking back, I was so ill. “
Exactly one month later, Emma had a craniotomy - a surgical procedure that involves removing a portion of the skull to access the brain - to remove the tumour pressing on her optic nerve. The surgery was successful and Emma is on a "watch and wait" regime where she has an MRI scan every 12 months to monitor the six remaining tumours.
Despite the successful surgery Emma still has to deal with a number of frustrating symptoms. She said: “Living with multiple meningiomas has been really hard. I suffer from fatigue due to the tumours, so everyday life is more tiring for me.
“Every year I have brain scans to check for any growth, and the anxiety builds when you know the scan is due. Then you have the long wait for the results. It’s exhausting constantly worrying if the tumours have grown, or if I will need more treatment."
According to The Brain Tumour Charity, meningiomas, which can also grow on the spinal cord, are the most common type of adult brain tumour, accounting for 30 percent of all brain tumours diagnosed.
Common symptoms include:
Fits (seizures)
Weakness in your arms or legs
Loss of eyesight
Hearing loss
If you experience any unexplained symptoms you should speak to your GP.