A mum who dismissed her son's clumsiness as him just being a 'gangly teenager' going through a growth spurt was stunned to discover it was actually a giant brain tumour. Samantha Halket said that her son Thomas Halket, 16, started suffering from tiredness, headaches and sickness last month, which she just thought was from GCSE exam stress, too much screen time and not getting enough sleep.
The 39-year-old caught him zig-zagging across the road 'like a snake', and as he's notoriously clumsy and recently shot up, assumed it was down to his new lanky 6ft 1in frame. But as his headaches got worse, the mum-of-two booked an eye test at Specsavers who referred him to the emergency eye clinic.
After various tests, the 39-year-old received the 'terrifying' news that her youngest son had a 5cm by 6cm grade one brain tumour, a pilocytic astrocytoma, that was surrounded by a cyst. Two days later he had it removed but a slither was left behind as fully extracting it was likely to cause more problems, and he was eventually discharged a fortnight ago.
'Brave and resilient' Thomas is still struggling with his balance and coordination and is unable to walk unaided but his doting mum has high hopes that after physio and recovery time, it will improve. After a whirlwind experience, the mobile catering company owner is keen to raise awareness of the importance of routine eye tests, as she credits her Specsavers' trip with saving Thomas' life.
Pictured: Thomas Halket (16) from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, who's not able to walk unaided at the moment and uses a wheelchair when out and about (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Samantha said: "About a month ago he had a few headaches and sometimes would be sick. With all the things going on like exams and the stress of them, and he had a bit of time where he wasn't great at eating, I put them down to him staying up at night, being on the computer screen and not getting enough sleep.
"That started and he admitted that he'd been struggling to see for quite a long time in the distance. He didn't want to mention it to us because he didn't want glasses. He hid it quite well. I put his eyesight [getting poorer], down to thinking that computer screens are no good for your eyes and his tiredness from being on the computer a bit too late, and being a typical teenager.
"He had a couple of weeks where he had cold after cold and just kept picking things up. So with the sickness I just thought, is it another bug? Because there was a lot of sickness going around. I saw that the headaches were getting worse because sometimes he'd come in and would go to sleep or I found him in a dark room.
"His other symptom, which we didn't realise until after, was [problems with] balance. Thomas has always been very clumsy. He's suddenly had a massive growth spurt to 6ft 1in - his body is tiny compared to his big legs.
"He went to get something out of the car and instead of walking in a straight line, he was walking like a snake [and zig zagging]. We were just thinking 'he's so clumsy and is in Thomas' world'. I put it down to him being a clumsy, gangly teenager. He grew very quickly and his legs are three quarters of his body and he's got size 10 feet."
Pictured: Samantha Halket (39) from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with her 'brave' sone Thomas Halket (16) who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Samantha said that Thomas, who's an aspiring accountant, didn't constantly have headaches and would have them around one or two days a week. But his most persistent symptom was problems with his vision.
Samantha said: "He had a tumour with a cyst around it, it was 5cm by 6cm. It was really big and was blocking all the fluid from being able to move properly [around his brain].
"It was terrifying. We weren't expecting it at all. Thomas has been the bravest throughout it and only got upset once, and it was that moment when we were told what it was. We'd gone to Specsavers after school, he was still in his uniform. We just thought we'd be there, this would be sorted out and we'd go home. Everything just fell apart, it was scary.
"Even now, it still doesn't seem real because it was such an emergency, it happened so fast. We were told that Specsavers saved his life because the fluid [in his brain] was struggling to get past, so any moment something serious could have happened. His whole body could have shut down. It was essentially a ticking time bomb.
"He's very brave and resilient. He's got us through it. His mentality has been 'ok, let's go, let's do it'."
The teen is due to have another MRI in August and the remainder of his tumour will be monitored to ensure that it doesn't grow. A couple of days after his op he started physio, which will be ongoing.
Samantha said: "He's ok in himself. The only issue that he's having is balance and coordination. He can dress himself, he's managing to eat now but he can't prepare meals or stand up for long periods.
Pictured: The scar Thomas Halket (16) from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, has one his head after surgery (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
"He's not able to walk unaided at the moment. He's very wobbly, his balance just hasn't come back at all yet. He's got a crutch for short walks but he's in a wheelchair if we go out anywhere. We're hoping his balance and coordination will improve, it's just going to take physio and time.
"We just wanted to raise awareness of the importance of eye tests. I'd tell other parents to try and keep up with their children's eye tests because I don't think people realise how important they are, because I didn't."
Thomas said: "Finding out I had a brain tumour was terrifying. I'm looking forward to feeling better and the future."
Specsavers were contacted for comment.
