Eye test saved teen’s life after finding brain tumour
A ROUTINE eye test has saved the life of a teenager after discovering she had a lifethreatening brain tumour.
Cara Murdoch, 16, said she felt like her brain was “being squeezed” before being diagnosed.
The teen had been suffering from severe headaches for months but when her symptoms worsened dramatically she knew there was something seriously wrong.
Cara, from Wemyss Bay, Inverclyde, said: “It felt almost like my brain was being squeezed.
“My hearing would change as well, where everything would be quiet and then suddenly get louder, and I was experiencing double vision.”
Worried mum Sharon took her daughter to the GP who diagnosed her with migraines, but Cara was rushed to A&E the following day when she started being sick.
“Again, we were dismissed and told to return to our GP as he would be better at dealing with headaches,” said Sharon.
“Cara felt that everyone was dismissing her, and it was sad because she didn’t know when, or if, she was going to ever feel better again.
“It was only when we saw our right, especially in a teenager like abeth University Hospital in GP again that eye tests were Cara. Glasgow where she was seen by mentioned.” “Sharon and Cara were both the neurology department that
Cara made an urgent appday.oint-verydistressedwhentheyarrived ment at her local eye clinical and because they knew something Mum Sharon said: “Although it wasn’t long before they knew was seriously wrong and nobody it was scary to get a diagnosis, something very serious was was helping them. there was a sense of relief bewrong. “They were desperate, and my cause finally, somebody agreed
Vision Express optometrist heart just went out to them. with us that there was something Heather Love said: “Experienc“I t ’ s not s omet h i ng you wrong.” ing symptoms such as headaches ever want to see in a young Sharon and Cara are now enand double vision is a sign girl.” couraging others to prioritise something is definitely not Cara was taken to Queen Eliz- regular eye tests.