Mum who was suffering from headaches diagnosed with an…

Mum who was suffering from headaches diagnosed with an incurable condition

A young mum has spoken out about her devastating diagnosis after she went to the doctor complaining of severe headaches.

The brave woman is now in a race against time after being told she has a Grade 4 diffuse midline glioma brain tumour.

Reagan Kirkpatrick says she is now determined to make as many memories as possible with her two-year-old daughter, Amara Bel.

Speaking about where it all began, Reagan said six months ago she started getting severe headaches and felt tired a lot, so she went to see her GP.

At first, doctors told the 22-year-old her headaches were due to stress and prescribed her some tablets to cope with them.

However, as time went on, her headaches worsened to the point where she was unable to go to work.

She had blood tests done but the results failed to reveal anything as well, and so Reagan decided to book an appointment with the opticians instead.

Speaking to Chronicle Live, Reagan said: "The optician did some tests and found that there was something behind my eye and gave me a letter, which she said I needed to take to the doctors [straight away].

“The next day, I was still getting really bad headaches so I went to Cramlington Hospital and that's when they did an MRI scan and told me I had a tumour”.

Days later she had an operation to relieve some of the pressure that was causing her headaches. She has since had six weeks of radiotherapy and is now on her fourth round of chemotherapy.

Doctors told Reagan that the tumour is shrinking, but they also confirmed that it was incurable and that there is no way of knowing how long she has left.

"Doctors can't tell me how long I had the tumour before it was diagnosed or if it could have been prevented. I am just taking each day as it comes [but] it is so hard,” she said.

"I don't go out that much because it is taking its toll on me now and I can hardly go up the stairs. My balance is really bad and I need a wheelchair if I go to the shop”.

In response to her diagnosis, Reagan's colleagues at Domestic and General, where she worked as a customer sales advisor, have launched a fundraising campaign called ‘Raise 4 Reagan' to help pay for her final wishes - which include bringing her little girl to Disney Land.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up by work friend Liam Vinsome as part of the campaign and has so far raised more than £€3,500.

Reagan said: "I want to take my daughter to Flamingo Land and, hopefully, to Disneyland Paris. I am so thankful to Liam and my work colleagues who have set up the fundraiser."

And the courageous mum had an important message for anyone struggling to get a diagnosis. She said: "If you think something is wrong, definitely get a second opinion."