OUR BRAIN TUMOURS MADE US BEST FRIENDS

Stacy Louise, 44, tells us why these women connected at the worst time of their lives

- JOHANNA BELL

The engine hummed as our car rumbled along the road, but the silence between me and my partner Andy, then 46, was deafening. It was November 2022, and I'd just had an MRI scan confirming the worst news - I had a brain tumour.

For more than a year I'd ignored symptoms such as crippling headaches and blurry vision. By the time a lump appeared on the left side of my head, a month earlier, I had a permanent headache and couldn't even walk in a straight line.

Andy had rushed me to the GP, who'd referred me for the scan. Now, driving home from hospital, the neurologist’s words echoed in my mind; ‘It’s a large meningioma,’ he'd said. The tumour was eating into my skull and it needed removing urgently, and I'd need a titanium plate to replace the damaged bone.

As we pulled up at home, Andy was still lost for words. I didn’t blame him - he probably wanted to tell me it'd all be OK and that I'd be fine, but how could he? No one knew what lay ahead. Instead, he just gave me a cuddle.

Telling my daughter Georgie, then 21, later that day, I put on a brave face. 'These types of tumour are normally noncancerous,' I said, but inside, I was absolutely terrified.