Woman, 30, was diagnosed with deadly brain tumor after thinking sinister symptom was due to long-haul flight
Abi Smith was flying to the US in 2019 when she noticed that something felt off.
The 30-year-old, from Stirchley in the West Midlands in the UK, had been jetting off on holiday but during the journey noticed that her vision began to become blurry.
Initially, she brushed it off as simply a side-effect of being on the long-haul flight and thought nothing of it.
But when she arrived in the US, Abi started to experience other symptoms as well, leading to her starting to think that something might be wrong.
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On the holiday she began to lose mobility in her right leg, then her left leg, and then noticed that she was struggling to grip things properly.
When she found it increasingly difficult even to grasp a kitchen utensil, she realized she would need to get help.
Abi went off to a nearby hospital in the US where she was given a CT scan, but this scan didn't find anything abnormal.
But when she returned to the UK, Abi went to Queen's Hospital in Burton upon Trent, where she had an MRI scan.
This revealed that, unfortunately, there was something very wrong.
At first medics suspected that Abi may have had a stroke due to her not being able to move the right side of her body including her eye, a common symptom.
However, when they saw the scan results this revealed that she had a glioma.
This is a cancerous brain tumor at the bottom of her brain which had also spread to the top of her spine.
Sharing how she felt, Abi said: "When I was given my diagnosis, I was on my own, and although I was terrified, I felt a sense of relief that the medical team had a plan."
Symptoms of a glioma can include headaches, seizures, nausea and vomiting, personality and cognitive changes, one-sided weakness or numbness, and double-vision but prognosis depends on what stage the tumor is at.
For Abi, her tumor was in a place that surgeons decided was inoperable, however, in July 2019 they were able to remove the part of it on her spine.
The surgery was followed by radiotherapy and then six months of chemotherapy.
"Treatment was harsh, and I lost my hair," she said. 'It was a small price to pay for the amazing treatment that managed to considerably shrink my tumour."
Now, Abi still goes for regular checkups to monitor her.
She also runs a greeting card business called The Cancer Card, with some of every sale going to support the Brain Tumour Research Christmas Appeal
"More funding is urgently needed to understand, treat and ultimately cure brain tumors," she said.
"This Christmas, I'm encouraging people to support the appeal. Every pound donated helps fund the breakthroughs we desperately need."
Kit Roberts