Mom’s menopause hot flashes leads to brain tumor diagnosis

By Amy Reast

A mom put her hot flushes and "tingling sensation" down to the menopause - until scans revealed she had 10 brain tumors.

Kerry Brown, 54, began experiencing hot flushes and "tingling sensations" in 2017 that she assumed were hormonal and related to the menopause.

But soon the mom-of-one's symptoms escalated to extreme tiredness and slurring words over a two-year period.

When her vision began to change, she went to an optician and was referred for an MRI scan after they spotted swelling behind her eye.

The scan revealed four brain tumors that required surgical removal in July 2019.

But during that operation, medics found 10 tumors in total - five of which were removed while the remaining ones were placed under active monitoring.

She has continued to periodically have seizures and became blind in one eye in the years that followed, due to one of the tumors pressing on her optic nerve.

At a recent follow-up appointment, Kerry was told two of the tumors started to re-grow and she is having radiotherapy as a result.

Kerry, a production manager, from Hull, Yorkshire, said: "Looking back, the first signs were hot flushes and a warm, tingling sensation that would pass through my body.

"I thought it was just the menopause, but then I'd go pale, start slurring my words and feel overwhelmingly tired. I didn't think it was anything serious.

"I was having these episodes for a couple of years. Then I noticed what felt like a thumbprint over the vision in my right eye."

It transpired the 'hot flushes' Kerry had associated with the menopause were actually seizures.

An optician at Specsavers referred Kerry to hospital after detecting swelling behind her eye.

An MRI scan followed and days later she received a phone call asking her to attend hospital urgently.

She said: "I remember walking in and seeing pictures of brains on the wall and thinking 'this can’t be good'.

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"The consultant asked whether I'd been having headaches and if I could walk upstairs, before explaining they had identified four brain tumors.

"I was completely stunned. My partner, Gary, was with me, and thankfully he stayed calm.

While the tumors were low-grade, because two of them were more than two centimetres wide, they needed removing during surgery.

Kerry said: "When I woke up after the surgery, they told me they hadn't found four tumors – they'd found 10.

"I remember joking 'every time I speak to you, you find more' - but inside, I was terrified.

"I spent about five days in hospital and the tumors were confirmed as meningiomas – the most common form of adult primary brain tumor.

"I continued to have seizures and was placed on steroids and anti-seizure medication.

"One of the biggest impacts was on my sight because the tumour at the front of my head had been pressing on my optic nerve.

"They hoped that removing it would release the pressure, but it didn't. The nerve continued to die, and I'm now blind in my right eye.

"I had to go through the DVLA process again just to be allowed to drive with one eye."

Kerry is now fundraising for Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease and highlight the underfunding of research.

She said: "Knowing how underfunded research into brain tumors is, and having experienced this first-hand, really motivated me.

"I know what it's like to go through this. I've lived it.

"If sharing my story helps raise awareness or helps someone else feel less alone, then it’s worth it."

Ashley McWilliams, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: "Kerry's experience highlights how symptoms of a brain tumour can be mistaken for more common conditions, leading to delays in diagnosis.

"Stories like Kerry's remind us why this work is so urgently needed."