My week-long headache turned out to be a brain tumor — I had one unusual sign

<p>A woman was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering from a week-long migraine and “pins and needles” in her face. Kimberley Baggley, 27, started suffering from a migraine in June 2023 and was sent home from work. She then started to experience “pins and needles” in the left side of her face so went to her doctors but they told her she needed to rest. A week into the migraine, Kimberley’s husband, Luke Baggley, 28, took their son George, aged six, to swimming — when they came home Kimberley was in bed unconscious after having a seizure. She was blue-lighted to hospital where a CT scan and MRI scan revealed she had a brain tumor. She had a craniotomy which removed 95% of the tumor and was told she had a grade 3 astrocytoma — a rare, aggressive, and malignant brain tumor. Kimberley underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is currently having chemotherapy. Kimberley, a primary school teacher, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: “You have a brain tumor” are the five words that changed our lives for the foreseeable future. “You never think something like this is going to happen to you, but when it does, your whole world revolves around something that you know nothing about — It’s terrifying. “Your life stops when you’re diagnosed with a brain tumor. “There is so much unknown ahead of you, and a long process that puts other parts of your life on hold. “It’s time things changed, for me and everyone else living with a brain tumor. That’s why research into more effective treatments is so urgently needed.” Kimberley was at work when she started suffering from a migraine and got sent home. She started to experience tingling pain in her face so went to her local doctor and A&E department around five times but she was sent away with painkillers. Kimberley said: “You need to take time for yourself, go on a spa day and ‘it’s definitely not a brain tumor’ were all things said to me that week. “I’d never even thought it could be, I didn’t know anything about brain tumors and was so care-free with life, it wasn’t something I had even dreamed would be the case.” After a week in bed, Kimberley’s husband, Luke, took their son, George, to swimming — when they came home Kimberley was in bed unconscious after having a seizure. Kimberley said: “I was terrified, I didn’t know what was going on. “Never in a million years did I think that it would be a brain tumor — it was total confusion.” Kimberley was blue-lighted to Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, where she had another seizure. She was taken to the neurology ward where an MRI and CT scan revealed that she had a tumor on the brain. Kimberley said: “In that moment, your whole world crashes. “I know it sounds cliché, but you don’t see how things will get better — it is terrifying. “My husband was terrified as he didn’t know what was going to happen.” Kimberley then underwent a craniotomy — a surgical procedure that involves opening the skull to access the brain — in June 2023. The surgery was successful and doctors were able to remove 95% of the tumor and send it for a biopsy. The biopsy revealed that Kimberley had a Grade 3 astrocytoma — a rare, aggressive, and malignant brain tumor. Kimberley said: “I remember my consultant said that it wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best tumor to get and that put me at ease. “I was quite naïve when I first got diagnosed as I am such a positive person and always try to make the best out of a situation. “I thought I would have the operation and that would be it.” A month after her first surgery, she had an infection which meant she had to have a further operation and part of her skull removed. Since then she’s also battled sepsis, which delayed the start of her treatment. But she has now completed 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is on her 10th chemotherapy. Kimberley said: “The person that my diagnosis has affected the most is my husband. “He has had to carry on going to work whilst trying to look after me and our son. “He has taken on two roles and been mom and dad for the past year. “My little lad found it tough at first, one day he came out with ‘mom are you going to die’ which was tough to hear. “It has affected them and my wider family, to watch someone you love go through something this awful must be terrifying for them too.” Since her diagnosis, Kimberley abseiled down Anfield Stadium to raise $9,103 for The Brain Tumor Support and started a support group in Stoke-on-Trent to help other people going through a cancer diagnosis. The Brain Tumor Charity has awarded a $292,611 Future Leaders grant to fund research that will investigate better ways to treat high-grade brain tumors like Kimberley’s using immunotherapy approaches. Simon Newman, chief scientific officer at The Brain Tumor Charity said: “High-grade brain tumors are some of the most devastating brain tumors and current treatments are just not good enough. “We hope that by understanding the immune system and how it responds to brain tumors, we can improve immunotherapy treatment options and make the same progress in brain tumors that we have seen in other cancers. “Funding through our Future Leaders program will continue to transform the research landscape and help us accelerate a cure for this disease.”</p>