A 30-year-old who’s been given simply two years to reside has praised EastEnders mind tumour storyline – regardless of it being ‘unhappy’ to observe.
Laura Elizabeth Mahon, 30, was identified with a glioblastoma (GBM) final 12 months, when she was 20 weeks pregnant.
Although she’s since been by means of chemotherapy and her tumour is steady, the prognosis for any such tumour isn’t good.
Mind Tumour Analysis says that typical survival occasions for individuals with GBMs vary from simply 12-18 months.
EastEnders is presently airing a storyline that follows character Lola Pearce coping with her personal GBM analysis, and Laura’s praised the writing as being ‘so vital’.
Laura, from St Helens, Merseyside, mentioned: ‘It’s unhappy to observe what’s occurring to Lola as a result of it’s so near my story.
‘All of it got here flooding again when Lola was advised she had a mind tumour, the way it was such an enormous shock, after which the sitting in hospital and ready for outcomes.
‘Danielle Harold performs the position so properly, it’s scarily correct. I speak concerning the storyline with my husband, Danny, and my mother and father.
‘My mum acquired upset whereas watching it, but it surely’s so vital to lift consciousness as a result of individuals don’t perceive how shortly mind tumours change individuals’s lives.’
The primary signal that one thing was fallacious appeared in September 2021.
Laura awoke someday and couldn’t really feel her toes, however at first she dismissed the signs and put it all the way down to her being pregnant and the way drained she was.
However simply the following day, she might not transfer her proper leg and was struggling to stroll.
She noticed a health care provider, who thought her child was urgent in opposition to a nerve, however an MRI scan revealed the actual wrongdoer was a tumour.
Laura mentioned: ‘They advised me it had greater than possible been there for years and had now began rising.
‘It was such a shock. I used to be solely 29 and didn’t assume one thing like this might occur to me.’
Her being pregnant meant that she and her husband Danny, 29, had been confronted with ‘the hardest choice of their lives’ when Laura’s situation deteriorated.
They in the end determined to deliver Sienna into the world forward of schedule at 30 weeks.
When she was born November 30, she weighed simply 3.4lbs and was taken to the neonatal ward and wanted an incubator.
Sienna’s collapsed lung meant she wanted to go to Royal Oldham Hospital to obtain specialised care, and despite the fact that she wasn’t properly sufficient, Laura discharged herself from Warrington Hospital to be together with her daughter.
One other MRI scan on December 9 revealed that not solely had Laura’s tumour almost doubled in dimension, but it surely was additionally inoperable because it was on her motor cortex and there was no technique to safely take away it with surgical procedure.
Then the biopsy revealed but extra dangerous information simply days earlier than Christmas.
She mentioned: ‘Being advised at 29 years outdated that you've inoperable stage 4 mind most cancers and simply two years to reside is one thing you may by no means put together your self for.
‘Listening to that mentioned out loud was a second I’ll always remember.’
Now, Laura has completed six months of chemo and her newest scan has revealed that the tumour has shrunk and is steady.
The ‘relieved’ couple are actually trying ahead to celebrating Sienna’s first birthday later this month.
Laura mentioned: ‘It will likely be so pretty. Sienna is doing nice, and she or he has simply began nursery which she’s loving.
‘It’s so good to see her growing, and she or he’s now making an attempt to stroll.
‘I see others with GBMs who handle to reside longer, so I'm clinging to the concept I is perhaps a kind of individuals.
‘I’m preventing as arduous as I can and I’m staying robust for my household.’
Laura is now working with charity Mind Tumour Analysis, which is asking on the Authorities and bigger most cancers charities to speculate extra in analysis into mind tumours.
Sue Fort-Smith, Head of PR and Communications on the charity, mentioned: ‘We're grateful to EastEnders for serving to to lift consciousness of mind tumours.
‘Lola’s story is all too acquainted to 1000's of households; mind tumours are indiscriminate and may have an effect on anybody at any age, they kill extra youngsters and adults beneath the age of 40 than some other most cancers.
‘Elevated consciousness is significant as we marketing campaign for the Authorities and the bigger most cancers charities to speculate extra to enhance outcomes for sufferers and, in the end, to discover a treatment.’
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