A 'fit and active' mum has been 'floored' after being diagnosed with three brain tumours when she suddenly forgot to walk up the stairs .
Julie Baker, from Port Askaig on the Isle of Islay, had no symptoms or warning signs before she was suddenly hit by a seizure in the middle of the night on November 8 last year.
The 50-year-old was sent to hospital and although was signed off work, returned home after three days.
However, shortly after Julie was walking up the stairs at home when she suddenly forgot how to do it.
She went to her GP who immediately sent her for an MRI scan at Lorn and Islands District General Hospital in Oban and the shocking diagnosis was discovered.
Julie, mum to Sophie, 19, Stacy, 23, and Jamie, 26, said: "I’ve been floored by this, I can’t work and I can’t drive.
"I’m fit and very active, and I didn’t have any symptoms or warning signs. My husband, Seamus, had a terrible fright and thought it was the end of the line for me when I had the seizure.
“I’d been working that night and I had spoken to my mum on the phone, but I couldn’t remember anything.
“I still didn’t feel right when I got home. I was really shaky, I was having memory lapses, and my speech was impaired.
"I just didn’t want to leave the house, which is totally out of character.
"After the scan, the doctor called and said he had good news and bad news.
"The good news was that they now knew what caused my seizure, but the bad news was that I had three brain tumours.
"It was a huge shock and I just broke down.”
Julie had a 6.5cm meningioma at the front of her head, and two smaller meningiomas at the rear.
Doctors told her that they would remove the large tumour, and continue to monitor the other two as they were pressing against a main vessel.
Julie was supposed to undergo surgery on January 2, but she got COVID on Christmas Day and had to cancel the procedure. She eventually had the large tumour removed on February 18 at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
After the operation, Julie’s head was numb for three weeks, and infections forced her to return to hospital on several occasions.
Six weeks after surgery, she was paralysed down her left-hand side and had to be flown by air ambulance to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Excessive fluid was putting pressure on her brain, and it needed to be treated with steroids.
Julie, a home carer with Argyll and Bute Council, and a hairdressing teacher at Islay High School and Argyll College, said: “At the time, I took it in my stride but now it upsets me so much.
“I’m used to being active and I never anticipated the fatigue that I would experience. Some days I feel so terrible, really low, and I don’t want to go on, but then I think ‘no, let’s carry on’.
“I just want to get back to some sort of normality. Fortunately, I’ve had huge support from my husband and three children, family, friends and the dancing world.”
Julie has just completed the Jog 26.2 Miles in the May challenge and raised over £4,500 for Brain Tumour Research.
She added: “I was so determined to do this, and I just want to give something back after the wonderful care from my doctors and surgeons.
“I’m shocked at how little funding brain tumours get compared to other cancers and that needs to change.
"I still have two brain tumours so I’m not out of the woods yet, but I just want to raise awareness of this devastating disease.
"Islay has a fantastic community and so many people have been so kind and donated, I’m totally humbled.”
To donate to Julie’s fundraising page, visit: https://www.facebook.com/donate/692343435527112
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