By George Mathias
A woman says an eye test ‘saved her life’ – after her optician spotted a brain tumour during a routine examination.
Katie Everett, 31, was referred to at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital for an MRI scan after her optician noticed an abnormality in both of her eyes.
Doctors there diagnosed her with meningioma – the most common type of primary brain tumour – in July 2021.
Katie believes the routine eye test ‘saved her life’ as the tumour would have been otherwise undetected.
She underwent two operations to have the mass removed in July 2021 and went on to have radiotherapy in November 2022.
The surgery was a success, though not all the tumour could be removed, meaning Katie has to have check ups for the next 10 years.
Katie, a beautician, from Romsey, Hampshire, said: “I feel like the eye test saved my life and eyesight – as if it was left any longer, I could have lost my vision completely due to it pressing on my optic nerve.
“It’s hard to believe, I really don’t think something like that could happen, it’s quite upsetting and shocking.”
The type of tumour Katie had is classed a benign as it is slow-growing, however, had it been left undetected it could have caused life-changing or life-limiting problems.
She has since then had two surgeries to remove the tumour and in October 2022 underwent fertility preservation as she hopes to have kids in the future with husband James Everett, 33.
She then began radiotherapy to prevent the tumour from growing which is successful in 90 per cent of cases.
Katie said: “I’ve had some hair loss where the radiotherapy was targeting the mass and my nose and throat are still recovering from the second surgery as they cut away what they could of the tumour via my nose.
“Other than that, I feel fortunate to be able to share my story to help raise awareness.
“It’s made me realise that even when you don’t feel that you’re strong enough to deal with something like this, when it comes to it you somehow find the strength within you.”
The tumour was pressing on Katie’s pituitary gland which caused her menstrual cycles to stop while also severely impacting her vision.
It also strangely made colours were appear “more vivid.”
“I almost needed to wear sunglasses because everything felt brighter,” Katie said.
She is now monitored with regular scans.
Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re grateful to Katie for sharing her story with us as well as fundraising an incredible amount and we wish her well with her ongoing scans.”
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