I thought I needed new glasses but headaches turned out to be tumour
Beth backs campaign urging everyone to get eye checks
A TEENAGER who thought she needed new glasses was stunned when a routine eye test showed up a deadly brain tumour.
Beth McKendrick-Rafferty, 14, who has worn glasses since she was a toddler, had started suffering “stabbing” headaches and assumed she needed a new prescription.
During an appointment at Specsavers, Beth, of Hamilton, passed the reading tests no problem.
However, opticians spotted a large shadow at the back of Beth’s right eye and after numerous tests, CT scans and an MRI scan, she was given the devastating news that she had a brain tumour.
The large benign mass behind her right eye, called a pilocytic astrocytoma, was pressing on the optic nerve and, if left untreated, could have caused blindness and strokes.
Thankfully, four ops and 52 weeks of chemotherapy were a success and the tumour reduced in size, though Beth must live with it forever.
Now she and mum Claire, 53, are sharing her story during National Eye Health Week to urge people to go for tests.
Claire said: “It was a devastating diagnosis – to hear the word ‘tumour’ was terrifying to hear. I thought it might have been a migraine – I never thought it was going to manifest itself as being a tumour.
“If we didn’t pay a visit to Specsavers that day, who knows what the story would have been?”
Beth, who also lives with Glasgow Caledonian University lecturer dad Daniel Rafferty, 55, started having headaches in 2017 and went to the Hamilton branch of Specsavers.
The optician asked Beth to leave the room and explained to teaching assistant Claire he’d spotted signs of a tumour.
Beth was referred to hospital that evening before being called to Wishaw General Hospital for scans. It was an MRI scan that confirmed her optician’s suspicions – that a tumour was resting on the optic nerve behind her eye and that she needed chemotherapy.
Throughout 2018, Beth had treatment at Glasgow Children’s Hospital including a biopsy to discover the tumour was benign, a gradual draining procedure and weekly chemo, which meant she lost her hair.
Beth now has MRI scans every three months.
She added: “I want to share my story with other people. “It’s very important to go to your eye tests.
“With your eyes, so much can be taken away from you so quickly, things you take for granted every day.”
Emma Foster, store director at Specsavers Hamilton, said: “She’s a wonderful girl and is always so friendly and talkative whenever she pays us a visit in store.”