A mum-of-two feels “lucky” after a bout of food poisoning led to the discovery of a deadly brain tumour. Theresa Hardwick, 58, was on holiday in Saint Brieuc, Brittany, France, when she started vomiting and talking “nonsense”.
She was quickly taken to Central Hospitalier de Saint Brieuc where doctors found an egg-sized low-grade brain tumour that may have been growing for 30 years. After a seven-hour operation to remove the tumour following a 90-minute seizure, Theresa has been stable.
Theresa, of Petersfield, Hampshire, said: “Had I never been sick, my tumour might still be undiscovered.”
She believes her brain went into spasm due to the effects of the food poisoning from mussels. On July 4, 2019, her husband Paul, 56, noticed she wasn’t making sense while talking and became unresponsive.
He called an ambulance which took her to a hospital in Brittany before she was transferred to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, back in the UK. It was there that a 90-minute seizure revealed a non-cancerous meningeal tumour.
Theresa shared: “There were no warning signs before I was sick with food poisoning. I had been vomiting for hours non-stop and was extremely dehydrated when I had the seizure.”
Surgeons were able to remove Theresa’s tumour in a seven-hour operation that took place on August 21, 2019, at the Spire Hospital, Southampton.
Following that, Theresa’s health is stable. However, she requires yearly checks to ensure the tumour doesn’t reappear. In doing their bit, Theresa’s daughter, Anna, a 25 year old finance assistant, intends to embark on a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro (5,859m) to raise funds for Brain Tumour research.
Reflecting on her journey, Theresa stated: “I feel lucky that my tumour was operable and I’m now monitored with regular brain scans.”
But she also understands there is, sadly, no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach when it comes to treating brain tumours. More detailed facts about Brain Tumour Research can be discovered here.