A 25-year woman who was told she was too young for a brain scan was diagnosed with a 'huge' brain tumour that had been growing for 15 years.
Claudia Laird said she experienced "a few random headaches " and "brain fuzz", but put it down to tiredness while studying paediatric nursing last year.
She said she was told that an A&E consultant told her the hospital does not do scans "willy nilly" on younger patients and felt "unheard" and "uncared for" during her diagnosis, Lancashire Live reports.
However, the episodes became more frequent during late December and early January 2022, when an ambulance was called after Claudia experienced frequent vomiting, high heart rate and a loss of feeling in both hands.
This is when she was taken to Blackburn Hospital before being discharged five hours later with a diagnosis of gastroenteritis.
"Due to the fact that I work in healthcare myself and with my symptoms, I knew I wasn't right," Claudia said.
"My mother also works in healthcare and was extremely worried about me. I even lost my hearing when I was walking home from my placement but didn't think anything sinister was going on at first. I was telling the consultants how bad I felt, even though I was still being sick and was experiencing memory loss, but they discharged me around 2am."
After Claudia was discharged, she began to feel worse and two days later started hallucinating at night. She had to sleep with her parents and continued to vomit, was unable to recall a takeaway order and even walked into a window when she thought it was a door.
The following day, Claudia was still experiencing confusion, irrational thinking and speech problems. Her mother voiced her concerns to her GP, but was told nothing had come up on the scans to be concerned about. The following few days were much of the same and her symptoms carried on until visited Jinkinson Opticians in Padiham where she was told to go to A&E.
"The consultant there told me that I must be starting with migraines and to come off the contraception pill," Claudia added.
"When I asked for a brain scan I was told, 'We don't give out brain scans willy-nilly to 24-year-olds' and I was sent home without my bloods taken.
"I felt reassured because I trusted the doctor's opinion but I was still having headaches and dizzy spells. Again, a few days later my mother expressed her concern with the GP who booked an appointment for ambulatory care the next day.
"The evening I could not read the words clearly on my laptop when I was sitting one of my nursing exams and I started vomiting again and I couldn't feel my hands. We went to A&E at midnight but left because no one took us seriously, a nurse said 'What are you doing here?' and sarcastically said 'GPs always send you here.'"
It was only the next morning at 9am that Claudia finally received her ambulatory care and had two scans which revealed her diagnosis. The next day she was taken to Preston Hospital and had an emergency eight-hour surgery to safely remove the 5cm x 7cm tumour.
Dr Jawad Husain, Executive Medical Director for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said: "The Trust is indebted to Claudia for sharing her experiences and her bravery in raising these issues is inspiring. It is clear from her feedback that she has been critically ill and we’re pleased to hear she is now recovering well.
"Whilst there are positives to take from her story, there is also lots to learn and we’re sorry she was left to feel unheard and uncared for during her diagnosis. We’d be keen to know more and would hope to meet with her to discuss further and provide an opportunity for her to help us to improve.
“We think it is fantastic that she is going to be an advocate and increase awareness of this condition and its presenting symptoms and we’d love to work with her on this, both in the Trust itself, wider healthcare system and in the local community.”
It was later revealed that the tumour found in the right-hand side of her brain was slowly moving to the left and had actually been slowly growing for 15 years. Claudia has expressed her delight with the staff at Blackburn ambulatory care and Preston hospital for their "caring approach, dedication, professionalism and expertise" at "such a difficult time."
Now, Claudia hopes to raise awareness of brain tumours and hopes that people insist with medical professionals when they believe something is wrong.
"On average it takes nine visits to a healthcare professional before diagnostic tests are done," Claudia added. "I was told if I didn't get treated on the day that I did it could have had catastrophic consequences. It was really stressful at the time but I am glad I got the attention I needed.
"When I woke up in my hospital bed after surgery I actually sprung up and said 'woah! I'm alive!'. I couldn't believe it and I was discharged quickly, about three days later because I wasn't allowed any visitors and I think it was for my own mental wellbeing as a lot of people on the ward were in serious pain and screaming."
It took Claudia around six weeks to begin to feel "more normal" and like herself again. However, it was very soon after in March when Claudia decided to raise money for Pendleside Hospice, where her mum works, to give back to the people who looked after her.
She said: "I had just survived this life-threatening ordeal and I thought I needed to do something to give back. I was thinking about what I could do and decided on walking 10,000 steps because I knew I could do that.
"My parents live on a farm so that was good for walking, or I'd just drive somewhere and walk there. On my last walk on Mother's Day, I reached out on Facebook and around 25-30 people joined me. We walked through a forest and it was a great success."
Claudia did 10,000+ steps a day throughout March and managed to raise nearly £2,000 for a charity that focuses on low-grade tumours like hers. She also raised £500 for Pendleside Hospice, to give back to the psychotherapy and complementary team that helped her.
Claudia has since returned to her studies to become a paediatric nurse, studying for the degree at the University of Manchester. She hopes to raise awareness of low-grade tumours and will do so with her work helping young people and children.
Previously, back in 2013, her father Baron Laird was diagnosed with primary and secondary head and neck cancer and so could provide support to his daughter throughout her treatment. Claudia had her latest scan in April, which showed that for now, the tumour is nothing to worry about and will be having regular scans to keep it under control.
