The mother of a woman who assumed her headaches were due to a common pregnancy complication was diagnosed with a brain tumor just weeks before giving birth.
Now, Bethany Wright, 26, is collecting stories for her nine-month-old son to hear, in case she’s not around to watch him grow up.
The Glasgow community nurse has always had headaches, but in March 2024 the pain became so severe she had to go to hospital.
Ms Wright told doctors at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary about her worrying symptom and that she suffered from high blood pressure.
She was worried she had preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure, but a CT scan showed a mass in her brain.
Another MRI confirmed that he had a 6cm brain tumor and doctors explained that he would need an operation to remove it.
However, she was told she could not undergo the procedure while she was pregnant.
Ms Wright gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28 and five months later underwent surgery to remove the mass on August 19, 2024.
Bethany Wright, 26, from Glasgow, gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28. She initially assumed her headaches were due to a pregnancy complication and was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 34 weeks.
The Glasgow community nurse has always had headaches, but in March 2024 the pain became so bad she had to go to hospital (pictured left). She was worried she had preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure, but a CT scan showed a mass in her brain (pictured right).
“It was a very strange moment because I felt like all the exciting moments of the end of the pregnancy had been taken away from me,” she said.
‘I felt there was a negative energy around the pregnancy, no one could focus on the fact that I was having my first child. “Everyone was very upset.”
Doctors were able to remove 85 percent of the tumor and a biopsy revealed that he has a grade 3 astrocytoma, an aggressive, fast-growing tumor in the central nervous system.
Surgeons couldn’t get the remaining 15 percent because of its location in the right frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls speech.
Following her surgery, Ms Wright underwent 33 rounds of radiotherapy and is now receiving 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
Recalling her treatment, Mrs Wright said: ‘I struggled with chemo, vomiting a lot, couldn’t eat and couldn’t keep anything down.
‘I felt like I couldn’t do the day-to-day activities that I had difficulty with as a new mother.
“It’s been tough, I don’t think I could have done it without my partner Cameron, 28, and my mum Lorraine, 62, who moved in with us, so I can put my health first.”
Doctors were able to remove 85 percent of the tumor and a biopsy revealed that he has a grade 3 astrocytoma, an aggressive, fast-growing tumor in the central nervous system.
Following her surgery, Ms Wright underwent 33 rounds of radiotherapy and is now receiving 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
The mum-of-one (pictured with partner Cameron, 28) confessed she feels ‘robbed’ from motherhood and said she started making a memory box for Alfie, fearing she wouldn’t be around to see him grow up.
According to Cancer Research, around nine in 100 brain tumors diagnosed in England between 1995 and 2017 were astrocytomas.
Headaches, difficulty speaking, double and blurred vision, problems speaking or remembering, and seizures are symptoms of this type of brain tumor.
Around 27 per cent of people diagnosed with grade 3 astrocytoma live five years or more, explains The Brain Tumor Charity.
The mother-of-one confessed she feels “robbed” of motherhood and said she started making a memory box for Alfie, fearing she wouldn’t be around to see him grow up.
Mrs Wright said: I was told I had between three and ten years to live; It was difficult to understand.’
She added: ‘When they told me it was grade 3, I didn’t know how to process it; I wondered if I would have a shorter life.
‘I had just had a newborn son and was trying to think about the future.
‘My main thought was that I wasn’t going to be able to be there while my son was growing up, which is heartbreaking.
“I’m 26 years old, I’m still young.”
Mrs Wright has created a memory box which she plans to fill with letters and a voice recording for her son Alfie to listen to.
She said: “It’s been very difficult, I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot as a mother, a lot of new mothers go to classes with their babies and meet other mothers.”
“They’re having the best time and I can’t have it.”
“If I think too much about leaving Alfie behind, I get really angry, so when I’m with him I try to put him out of my mind.
‘I have a memory box where I can write letters and there is also a voice recorder. I’ve started putting things into it, but that in itself is a difficult thing to do.’