Macclesfield woman’s eye test led to brain tumour discovery

A woman who was diagnosed with a brain tumour after a routine eye test is encouraging people to go for regular check ups.

Jenni Hayes, 30, from Macclesfield, had originally put her symptoms down to stress from her busy life as a working mum of two young children.

But after an optician spotted a swelling behind her eyes she was immediately referred to hospital where she was diagnosed with a right frontal lobe glioma.

“You don’t ever expect that it’s going to be anything like that,” she said. “Your life changes in an instant.”

Ms Hayes said she had first started experiencing headaches, visual disturbances and numbness in her legs about two years ago but the episodes were “quite random” and would only last a few minutes.

After visiting her GP at the time she said she believed it was from her busy life.

“I thought it was stress I’ve got two young children I’ve got a busy job a busy life is going to be that,” she told BBC North West Tonight.

But when the episodes increased in frequency Ms Hayes, a midwife at East Cheshire NHS Trust, said it was her mother who suggested she should get her eyes tested.

“So I went to Specsavers for an eye test and they saw something swelling behind my eyes and referred me straight to the hospital,” Ms Hayes said.

After undergoing a CT scan and an MRI scan she was diagnosed with a right frontal lobe glioma and will have brain surgery at Salford Royal Hospital.

“I didn’t think it could ever detect things like that, like a brain tumour,” she said, adding she wants to raise the importance of going for regular eye tests which she said people “don’t take as seriously” as other health check ups.

“I was told initially to prepare for the worst,” she said. “I never expected to hear those words.”

Ms Hayes will undergo brain surgery to remove up to 90% of the tumour this week and then start chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

“The rest [of the tumour] is in part of my brain they think they are going to leave because that’s too dangerous to get out,” she said.

“So there will be a little bit left that we treat with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and it’s going to be a rough year probably,” she said.

Ms Hayes said she had since written a will and was now dealing with what she termed her “brain tumour admin” ahead of her operation.

“As a mum you don’t want to leave a mess behind if things go south,” she said.

“You want to leave everybody OK.”

Optometrist Iqra Chaudhary, who spotted the abnormalities during Ms Hayes’ eye examination, stressed the importance of getting regular eye tests.

“It’s important to get your eyes tested every two years,” she said.

“It’s not just about your vision, it’s also about healthcare and the eye health.”