A woman who suffered severe headaches, sickness and seizures wrote off two cars before discovering she had a brain tumour. At the time she thought the symptoms were panic attacks.
Jennifer Bradshaw, 28, from Bradford, told how she started getting the symptoms, which also included noise sensitivity, in the summer of 2020. Things got worse over time, with the seizures lasting longer.
While they were taking place she wouldn't be able to speak or move properly. She spoke to her GP and her symptoms were put down to anxiety and migraines, which she was given medication for.
But within a couple of months she had two seizures while driving, writing off both cars in the process. She first crashed into some railings near a roundabout and, thankfully, nobody was injured. The second time saw her car collide with another.
Jennifer was left with pain in her shoulders and the top of her back. She went to get checked over at Bradford Royal Infirmary the next day and she was sent home with painkillers, reports YorkshireLive.
Jennifer said: "I started to get strange feelings where for just a few seconds I couldn't respond or be able to move at all. I wasn't even able to reply when someone was talking to me.
"This happened another time when I was behind the wheel of the car and my partner, Matty, had to grab the wheel and steer us onto a smaller road – it was really terrifying but I kept being told nothing was really that wrong with me."
As time went on, Jennifer's symptoms intensified even further. She found herself rocking backwards and forwards sitting on the floor with her eyes closed and keeping a bucket to be sick into near to her at all times.
She had a telephone consultation with the GP, who prescribed more migraine tablets. But, as she got more unwell and the headache also got increasingly unbearable, an ambulance was called.
After an initial check, Jennifer stood up and then went very dizzy, started to choke and blacked out. She was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary and Matty and her mum told medics about her migraines and oncology referral and she was immediately taken for a CT scan.
The scan found a large mass on her brain so she was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary for an MRI scan. A few days later, she underwent a 13-hour operation which removed around 70 per cent of the tumour, which was soon confirmed to be a Grade 2 astrocytoma.
She said: "I was scared and worried about what was going to happen to me – the diagnosis is not what I expected at all."
Jennifer had a second operation eight months later to remove more of the tumour, but not all of it could be taken out due to concerns over what damage that could have caused. After this, it was confirmed that the tumour had become a cancerous Grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma.
Jennifer then had six weeks of radiotherapy, leaving her tired and causing her long hair to fall out. She said: "I was in utter shock that I now had cancer.
"I couldn't understand how this had happened to me. Losing my hair was a major deal – it was long enough to almost touch my belly. One day as I arrived at work, a large chunk of it just fell out which was really shocking and upsetting."
Jennifer heard about The Brain Tumour Charity through a friend and she has found the organisation's specialist information to be helpful. That's why she decided to share her story.
She said: "Everything has changed – no more cars or driving, my memory is terrible and I lose my temper so easily when I never used to. But the people who have supported me have got me to where I am today, they help me to enjoy each day and to fight my way through it all. I will be forever thankful for all that my family and friends do for me."
Alex Lochrane, chief executive at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: "Jennifer has had a truly awful time, particularly in the lead-up to her diagnosis. Although improvements have been made, there is still a huge lack of awareness around the signs and symptoms of brain tumours which can make getting an accurate diagnosis a traumatic and long-drawn-out process.
For more information visit the Brain Tumour Charity website.
