I was told I might never be a mother but I proved you mustn’t give up hope

Jenny Raymond, 29, who runs a parenting website, was diagnosed with a prolactinoma as a child. She lives in north London with her husband adam, 32, and daughter, Hayley, one

THE moment I found out I was pregnant will stay with me for ever. It’s a special moment for anyone, but for me it was especially poignant as I’d known since I was a child that I might never have my own family.

My fertility issues stem from having a prolactinoma — the kind of benign tumour on the pituitary gland that Sue Perkins has.

I was 11 years old and sitting between my mum and dad when I discovered I had a brain tumour.

The doctor sat behind his desk and blurted ‘it’s a benign brain tumour’. It felt like the end of the world. I struggled to take it in.

It had taken two years to work out what was wrong with me. From the age of nine, I’d had the most terrible headaches — a drilling pain on the left side.

My mum kept taking me to the GP but was always reassured that I was fine, just suffering from ‘growing pains’. In the end she was so concerned she took me to see a private GP who ran blood tests, and subsequently worked out what I had.

A brain scan confirmed a tumour protruding into the left side of my brain. over the coming months, I learned what this meant for me and my future. I was told it would have a huge impact on my menstrual cycle and fertility. I was put onto medication straight away.

Put simply, the tumour causes an overproduction of prolactin, the hormone which helps produce breast milk. High levels of the hormone make the body think it is pregnant. So conceiving is almost impossible, as the menstrual cycle becomes so erratic.

I was put onto medication that was supposed to limit the growth of the tumour and the amount of prolactin it pumped out.

But my levels of prolactin stayed high. As a result, when I hit puberty, my periods were all over the place. I went on the Pill at 17 to try to regulate them. That worked, but the headaches continued to grow in intensity.

For a couple of years in my early 20s I had a good job in banking but the only way I could continue was to work a lot from home. I had always been determined that the tumour wouldn’t take over my life, but it was getting harder.

By 2009, when I was 23, my prolactin levels were rising so much it was suggested I should have surgery to remove as much of the tumour as was possible. normally prolactinomas are the size of a pea but mine had grown to the size of a cherry. To operate they had to go in through my mouth and nose. Your face suffers a lot of bruising.

It was very, very scary. However, they managed to reduce the size of the tumour. It then took eight weeks to recover and I became determined never to take another painkiller.

When I met my future husband, Adam, I was honest from the start. The words ‘brain tumour’ can scare people and I wanted him to know that it did not stop me getting on with my life.

But I also had to warn him that it might be difficult for me to have a family and we later decided to check out my chances of conception with my endocrinologist.

He was really supportive about me having a baby and agreed to keep checking my prolactin levels. He told me that when the levels were suitably low, he would tell me to try for a baby.

I was 27 when that moment came. Adam and I had been married two years. Even so, it felt strange to come back from an appointment and say to my poor husband: ‘right, we have to start trying for a baby now.’

I feared it might take a while, but within two months I was pregnant. Hayley was born in october 2013. now my prolactin levels are rising again but I’m optimistic I won’t need another operation. I feel extremely lucky to have Hayley and if I only ever have her I will feel blessed.