Football player discovered brain tumor after strange symptoms

Former English football player Amy Carr from Hemel Hempstead, Bedfordshire, shares about the strange sign that heralds a dangerous brain tumor. At the age of 24, Carr suddenly fainted in his bedroom after seeing a spider. Medical staff later assumed that she was just so scared of this animal that she fainted. However, Carr continued to fall down twice at the gym, so she decided to get a thorough examination to find out the cause.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results showed she had a tumor the size of a golf ball in her brain. She was prescribed surgery to remove the tumor and completely treat the disease. The surgery was successful, but Carr couldn’t walk or talk for eight days afterward.

When she was able to speak again, Carr could only communicate in French, the language she learned while in school, while her native language was English.

At the time of his diagnosis, Carr was playing professional soccer in Norway. After chemotherapy, radiotherapy and physical therapy, her condition was in remission. Recalling the incident, Carr shared: “I’ve never reacted like that to anything before. I’m afraid of spiders, but not so afraid that I faint.”

Doctors warned that she had a 5% risk of dying from the tumor. The risk of paralysis after surgery and the chance of full recovery are both 45%. However, Carr recovered beyond expectations.

“I was not mentally prepared for the rigors of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. At first, I vomited 27 times in two days. The situation later got better, but life was still difficult,” she said. healing time.

According to The Brain Tumor Charity, brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer in children and adults under 40 years of age. Brain tumors reduce life expectancy by an average of 27 years, the highest among cancers, with only 12% of adults surviving 5 years after diagnosis.

Common signs of a brain tumor include: headaches, vision changes, seizures, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, loss of taste and smell. However, these symptoms can also be caused by other diseases, making the tumor difficult to detect.