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Report transcript in: Tina’s story
Please Report the Errrors?
Good afternoon,
Michelle.
Could you please share with us your experience of cancer or cancer
screening from either your perspective or that of someone you know?
Hi,
my name's Michelle.
Um,
I've lost
several friends to cancer over the years.
And most,
the most recent
being 4 years ago,
um,
my best friend
was complaining of tremendous headaches,
um,
and she just kept putting it down to working on screen,
um,
working from home on the laptop a lot,
um,
and being.
Inundated with emails and workload.
So she just put down to normal behaviour
and thinking back even before then,
several years earlier,
um,
who also had a brain tumour,
she
was diagnosed as going through the
Cause,
because things were happening different to her,
so I'd basically
like to
Tell everyone that
if you've got a symptom that's
not normal to you,
so if you
you've got headaches but they're
not your normal,
then
please don't be fobbed off.
Please
go to the doctors,
go
seek
medical.
If it's at a nurse,
at the chemist,
doctors,
and if you're not
happy with the
treatment,
then maybe ask for a second opinion
because.
There is a chance,
you know your own body,
and if you know something's not right,
there's a chance that.
Could be cancer.
Not saying that you're going to necessarily die,
but the sooner.
To know what's going on with your body,
the sooner the treatment
can be.
Both my friends um passed away with brain tumours,
but.
Both completely different
type of tumours.
I didn't know that there's about 100 different types of brain tumour.
So
even if you are diagnosed with having a brain tumour,
it doesn't necessarily.
That that's the end of your life.
So
I just
urge anybody
to,
if something feels not right,
whether it's a headache,
blurred vision,
or
menopausal symptoms that you think,
hang on,
this isn't the menopause,
just
go
to your
GP first and seek help.
And did your friend or
or both your friends,
whichever you want to tell us about,
did they have any other
associated
cancers or did,
was that just a standalone symptom?
Um,
my best friend Tina,
she had,
she developed a lump,
found a lump in her breast,
so she had a lumpectomy.
Um,
and was
given the all clear from that,
from her breast cancer,
and it was.
Nearly a year later that she had a seizure while at work.
Which they thought at first she'd had a stroke,
which was the brain tumour,
so
We're unsure how long the brain tumour had been there,
was the brain tumour secondary to a breast cancer or
like I think,
the breast cancer was secondary.
Yeah,
to the brain tumour,
I believe
the tumour was there longer than we thought,
but that's just my opinion.
But one was secondary to the other we think.
Um,
my other friend,
no,
she,
she didn't
um
have any
other cancer symptoms,
she just
started to display,
but
she,
everything changed about her,
so
they've just put it down to the menopause
or.
Menopause because she was only in her 30s.
So
in that case,
was that um
diagnosis masked somewhat,
do you think?
Um,
yeah,
the,
yeah,
her diagnosis was masked and she was,
um,
given,
um,
antidepressants.
She was given.
Hormone treatment.
Menopause,
basically
told to eat a healthier lifestyle which she already did,
to take exercise,
to
basically everything that you're
encouraged to do because of the menopause,
she was
doing to the best of her ability,
but,
Eventually
she went.
To the hospital,
I think she collapsed.
The treatment of her is a little bit different because when
originally
with a brain tumour they,
Do the operation and
see how bad it is.
Well,
unfortunately she died through
complications after the treatment,
the surgery,
whereas fast forward
67 years,
my other friend,
they've stopped doing the.
Um,
Invasive until they knew what it was,
it was more
scans,
so
treatment's being advanced all the time.
But yeah,
just
shout if you don't feel right.
Thank you for that,
Michelle.
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