My wife was diagnosed with a primary aggressive brain tumour in Dec 2016. Brain cancer is one of the largest killers of middle aged men and women and is the most underfunded cancers for research and clinical trials.
My wife's initial symptoms were very vague, numbness of the face, anxiety, headaches, IBS and other minor issues. We saw the GP 3 times, were ejected from A+E twice and nobody even considered the possibility that this could be a brain tumour, despite all her symptoms be classic signs and despite there being simple monitoring which can detect seizure activity. Although this failure to diagnose would not have changed the situation, it had a huge psychological affect, not being believed in those early stages.
Her tumour is a Grade 4 Gliolblastoma, an incurable brain cancer which cannot be wholly removed by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. All the available treatments do is suppress re-growth until the patient cannot take any more treatment or the cancer develops immunity. The average prognosis for GBM4 is 18 months which I pleased to say my wife has outlived and with clear scans she's trying to enjoy life.
The Brain Tumour Charity funds research and campaigns, one of which is HeadSmart, which aims to raise awareness of the symptoms, especially in children where their response won't be articulate.
https://www.headsmart.org.uk/
My wife's initial symptoms were very vague, numbness of the face, anxiety, headaches, IBS and other minor issues. We saw the GP 3 times, were ejected from A+E twice and nobody even considered the possibility that this could be a brain tumour, despite all her symptoms be classic signs and despite there being simple monitoring which can detect seizure activity. Although this failure to diagnose would not have changed the situation, it had a huge psychological affect, not being believed in those early stages.
Her tumour is a Grade 4 Gliolblastoma, an incurable brain cancer which cannot be wholly removed by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. All the available treatments do is suppress re-growth until the patient cannot take any more treatment or the cancer develops immunity. The average prognosis for GBM4 is 18 months which I pleased to say my wife has outlived and with clear scans she's trying to enjoy life.
The Brain Tumour Charity funds research and campaigns, one of which is HeadSmart, which aims to raise awareness of the symptoms, especially in children where their response won't be articulate.
https://www.headsmart.org.uk/