Saved by eye test
Routine check found girl’s headaches caused by potentially deadly tumour
WHEN she started suffering from headaches, Beth McKendrick Rafferty just thought that she needed new glasses.
But a routine eye test revealed that the Scots schoolgirl had a potentially deadly brain tumour.
The 14-year-old, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, spent a year undergoing chemotherapy treatment after the shock discovery and needed four operations.
Following her successful treatment she and her mother, Claire McKendrick, decided to speak out about her ordeal to stress the importance of sight checks.
Primary school support assistant Mrs McKendrick, 53, said: ‘If we didn’t pay a visit to Specsavers that day, who knows what the story would have been.’
Beth, who has worn glasses since she was a toddler, had assumed that her ‘stabbing’ headaches in December 2017 meant her prescription needed upgrading.
However, her optician spotted a shadow at the back of her right eye. A large benign mass – called a pilocytic astrocytoma – was pressing on the optic nerve.
If left untreated it could have caused blindness and even lifethreatening strokes.
The diagnosis was confirmed after Beth was sent to Wishaw general hospital in Lanarkshire for scans.
She said: ‘The headaches involved sharp stabbing pains, it felt like someone was stabbing me in the eye with a sharp, pointy stick. It was horrible.
‘The headaches affected my schoolwork and made me more tired. Activities like going up the stairs to go to a classroom would take it out of me.’
Mrs McKendrick said: ‘It was a devastating diagnosis. The word “tumour” was terrifying to hear.
‘A devastating diagnosis’
I thought it might have been a migraine, I never thought that it was going to manifest itself as being a tumour.
‘We have been a lot luckier than a lot of families out there.
‘Beth has MRI scans every three months and the tumour is now small enough not to cause her any problems.’
Emma Foster, store director at Beth’s optician in Hamilton, said: ‘Beth’s case, although rare, is an example of how vital it is to go for regular eye examinations and to contact your optometrist if you are experiencing any issues with your eyesight or discomfort.
‘We recommend getting your eyes checked every two years as they can detect various health conditions, not just changes in prescriptions.’