A woman who was suffering from the symptoms of a life-threatening brain tumour was told she was just going through the “change”. The 51-year-old was given treatment for menopause symptoms instead of being offered a scan.
Lynn O'Toole, 51, from Seacombe, Wirral, visited her GP in early 2020 after she started to feel unwell. However, she was initially put on a course of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) when her GP said she was suffering from symptoms of the menopause.
After her condition deteriorated further Lynn was referred to hospital for an MRI scan where doctors found a 5cm brain tumour, the Liverpool Echo reports. She was immediately whisked into theatre at The Walton Centre, Liverpool, and told the tumour would kill her if she didn’t have the emergency surgery.
Lynn said: "I had been feeling unwell a couple of months before the surgery, but when I went to the doctor's they thought it had something to do with the menopause and I was put on a course of HRT.
"It was only later when I had an MRI scan that it revealed a very large brain tumour. I had to have surgery immediately, irrespective of the Covid pandemic which was then raging, or I would have died."
A large portion of the tumour was successfully removed during the surgery, however some remains. Lynn was left severely visually impaired, she is now blind in her left eye and only has a third of her sight in her right eye.
Lynn said: "I can't distinguish whether it's day or night and it's like everything is by candlelight. That's the only thing I can see."
Lynn had to give up her career in the care industry where she had worked for 30-odd years because of this disability. However she can still enjoy being with her five grandchildren, all of whom are under the age of four, who “keep me going”.
She said: "I am trying to adapt to not working, it was very hard at the time. But my grandchildren keep me going. It's amazing to see them, though I don't see them as I'd like to."
Lynn will be joining others to take part in the Walk of Hope for Brain Tumour Research this Saturday (September 24). She will be raising money to help them get closer to finding a cure for brain tumours, the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40. More details and how to donate can be found here.
