Please end my Halloween nightmare
Brain tumour survivor backs Katie Piper’s horror costumes campaign
A SCoT has backed calls for gory Halloween masks to be ditched.
Heather Dearie, who has a facial droop after cancer surgery, told how the ghoulish costumes add to her anguish.
A SCOT with a facial deformity is backing a campaign calling for an end to gory Halloween masks because they make her life a misery.
Heather Dearie was left disfigured after a brain tumour and said that masks and make-up don’t take into account the pain she and others suffer at this time of year.
Strictly Come Dancing star Katie Piper wants to make youngsters aware that wearing blood and fake scars can upset people with facial injuries.
She is fronting a bid to encourage Halloween revellers to avoid costumes or masks featuring fake injuries.
Heather said: “It may be just dressing up for other people but we haven’t got the luxury of taking off our scars after coming home from a party.
“It’s sending out the wrong message to make fun of disfigurement.
“Don’t get me wrong, I enter into the spirit of Halloween. I’m happy to hand out sweets to trick or treaters and can’t wait to see my two-year-old nephew Carson in his costume but people should stick to dressing up as pumpkins or ghosts.”
Katie was scarred for life in 2008 when her ex Daniel Lynch hired Stefan Sylvestre to throw acid in her face. She has undergone hundreds of corrective surgeries since.
Speaking of her bid to tone down bloody costumes, Katie, 34, said: “I’m fine with dressing up as a cat or a wizard but the trend towards blood and gore seems like a backward step.”
Her calls to crack down on fake scarring or make-up glamorising disfigurement struck a chord with Heather, 33, from Forehill in Ayr.
Her world was turned upside down by a brain tumour diagnosis eight years ago. Nerve damage during surgery left her with permanent facial paralysis.
Despite two reconstructive operations, Heather has been left with a facial droop, deafness in her right ear and no tear function in her right eye.
Heather was in the second year of a music management course at London’s Metropolitan University when she started suffering headaches, vomiting, fainting and losing her balance.
She said: “I couldn’t hear properly out of my right ear but presumed it was from going to loads of gigs.
“When hearing problems were ruled out, I was referred to Ayr Hospital for an MRI scan.”
In December 2010, Heather was given the devastating news that she had a brain tumour. On December 21, 2011, Heather had emergency surgery to relieve pressure on her brain from a build-up of fluid. Two days later, she had a nine-hour operation to remove the non-cancerous tumour. The avid Robbie Williams fan, who’s met him twice, came round from her induced coma while his hit song Angels played.
For Heather, the most difficult part is coping with cruel comments from strangers.
She said: “I got messages on Twitter with links to suicide websites and people saying if they looked like me, they would kill themselves.”
But Heather has refused to let the bullies win.
She said: “I wouldn’t give trolls that satisfaction, so I ignored and blocked them.”
Now she’s determined to raise awareness about how low-grade brain tumours can cause long-term disabilities and issues.
She said: “There is often a misconception that you’re fine if your tumour isn’t cancerous but I’m partially deaf, have blurred vision and suffer from headaches and fatigue.”