Grandmother’s life saved after ‘dose of flu’ diagnosed as brain tumour
A GRANDMOTHER who thought she had flu is lucky to be alive after doctors discovered her sore head was caused by a brain tumour.
Janice Beattie, from Kilmartin, Argyll, told her family she would go to the doctors in a couple of days if she did not feel better.
But Mrs Beattie’s husband, Willie, concerned at her worsening condition, insisted on taking his wife straight to A&E. Doctors then discovered she had a brain tumour.
The team who operated successfully to remove the tumour said that had it not been for Mr Beattie’s quick action she may not have survived.
Mother-of-three Mrs Beattie said: “They told me if I had waited until after that weekend to get help I wouldn’t be alive.”
Mrs Beattie, 55, started feeling unwell last month with what she thought was a bad dose of winter flu. Her husband insisted on taking her to A&E at Lochgilphead and three hours later she was airlifted by helicopter to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
Mr Beattie, 54, drove, in heavy snow, to be with his wife, who was later transferred to the Southern General.
Mrs Beattie was given an immediate course of steroids to relieve her symptoms. Doctors then warned the couple there was a possibility she would not survive the operation or could be left with paralysis down one side, impaired vision, speech difficulty and may suffer seizures afterwards.
Mr Beattie said: “That was that, she went for the operation and I was worried about her coming back, to see how much damage had been done.
“Six and a half hours the family waited and that is when the miracle happened.
“I was standing at the elevator when the doors opened and Janice was lying feet first on a trolley, she had a nurse at either side, then Janice put her hands up, as if she was doing a press up and said ‘I’m back’. That told me everything.
“The doctor said it was an absolute success, a textbook case.”
The brain tumour, which surgeons said was somewhere between the size of a walnut and a golf ball, had only been growing for a few weeks.
Scans revealed it was a secondary cancer and pinpointed the primary cancer as a pea-sized growth on Mrs Beattie’s lung that will be easier to remove because it has been detected so early.
Mr Beattie praised the NHS and the surgeons who carried out the operation, saying: “These guys are unsung heroes.”
He is now fundraising at www.justgiving.com/ William-Beattie4/ to raise £25,000 for the neurological unit at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital to thank the team that saved his wife’s life. The cash will pay for a special bone scalpel at the top of the team’s wish list.
The vintage car enthusiast has entered the Flying Scotsman Rally in April, with his rare 1928 Alvis car, to boost his fundraising efforts for the Southern General.
He said: “I am asking all rally enthusiasts and as many other people as possible to make a donation and I hope to have the money to hand over at the end of the rally.”