I thought our son had a brain tumour
SALLY GUNNELL The Olympian and mum-of-three tells JANE SYMONS how her son’s constant headaches made her fear the worst
SALLY Gunnell has always had a talent for clearing hurdles. Her mother’s mental breakdown gave her the determination to become an Olympian and she overcame back pain to win gold in the 400m hurdles at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
“I have learnt to look at things in a positive way,” says the athlete turned television presenter and motivational speaker.
“My mum had a complete mental breakdown when I was 15 and I think that made me who I am. It’s why I won my medals because it made me tough, I had to grow up and learn how to dig in.”
But the biggest hurdle of all came recently, when the mother-of-three, 52, feared her son may have a brain tumour. Luca, who is now 18, had been constantly tired and prone to mood swings most of his life.
“When he was young, he could never stay awake past seven o’clock and was always on edge, always argumentative,” explains Sally. And from the moment he could talk, he complained of pain in his head.
Sally and her husband, performance coach Jonathan Bigg, took him to a succession of doctors and specialists who put Luca through a battery of tests.
Yet despite his recurring symptoms they were repeatedly told there was nothing wrong and were reassured Luca would “grow out of it”. Sally however remained concerned.
“It just wasn’t normal,” she says. When he began to suffer nosebleeds as well, Sally started to fear Luca had a brain tumour.
“The headaches were so severe and came so often it was a real worry,” she says.
“As a mum, you start to think the worst. I was not getting desperate, because all the doctors were telling me he was fine.
“But I could not help worrying it was a brain tumour.”
Thankfully, and much to Sally’s relief, the nosebleeds turned out to be a passing phase.
And finally, last year, the family discovered that it was in fact wheat that was the trigger for Luca’s debilitating headaches.
Blood tests confirmed his brother Finley, 20, who with his mother’s athletic genes is a promising 800-metre runner, was wheat and dairy intolerant too, that Sally reacts to egg and cow’s milk and Jonathan is best to avoid dairy foods. Marley, 14, has yet to be tested.
UNLIKE allergies, which involve an almost immediate and sometimes life-threatening reaction, food intolerances can take up to 72 hours to trigger symptoms, which makes them difficult to diagnose.
Some experts are sceptical about the tests taken by Sally and her family as they look for food-specific “IgG” antibodies which are produced whenever we eat those foods, whether we have a reaction or not.
But Sally herself has no doubts of the benefits, saying: “It has utterly changed Luca’s life. We’ve all seen a complete change in him. And I only wish he could have been tested years ago.”
Sally takes a common sense approach to health.
“It’s about looking at your health as a whole but still enjoying life. I’m much more of a natural sort of person, so I’d rather go down the preventative route. I think it’s important to tune into your body,” she says.
She admits this approach has led to some unusual decisions when it comes to her family’s health. Like their father, her sons Finley and Luca have dyslexia and homework and exam revision was a constant challenge.
“We were lucky that because my husband is also dyslexic, it was picked up early so they got plenty of support at school,” says Sally.
“We learnt that moving around helped them learn and I remember going for long walks with Finley as he tried to learn Spanish.
“Then with Luca we would revise as he went round and round on a Segway, or bounced up and down on the trampoline.”
Sally, who as well as gold in the 400m hurdles, won bronze in the 400m relay at the 1992 Olympics — and remains the only woman to win the Olympic, World and European 400 metre hurdles titles — still runs regularly, but says: “These days it’s for pure vanity, and so I can enjoy my glass of wine and roast dinner.
“For me, it’s more about my mental health and strength because running puts me in the right place and kick-starts all those positive endorphins.”
And Sally knows first hand how important it is to look after her mental health.
“Mental health problems have affected my family for years. My mum, her twin sister and her brother struggled with depression and I think some of that is hereditary,” she says.
“That’s why it’s so important to keep yourself strong. There are some days when it’s the last thing I want to do but exercise has been my sanity.”
Running for charities also helps her raise awareness and donations for causes close to her heart.
Next month she will take part in a 5k “Resolution Run” for the Stroke Association at Worthing, near her home on the south coast.
“Five kilometres is brilliant if you have made a new year’s resolution to lose weight or get fitter and you haven’t been particularly active.
“It’s important to start slowly and set an achievable goal. And you don’t even have to run, a lot of people are going to walk the event and you should never underestimate the benefits of a good walk.”
One in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime and there are more than 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK.
Having high blood pressure increases the risk, but as Sally says: “Even the healthiest person can have a stroke, it’s not just people leading unfit, stressful lives.”
Proof of that came last year, with the shocking news that her friend and fellow Olympian Michael Johnson, 51, had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), sometimes known as a mini-stroke. He has made a complete recovery, but having had a TIA he knows he is at greater risk of suffering a major stroke in the future.
“If it could happen to Michael, it could happen to anyone,” says Sally. “It really brought it home to me.”