A mother of one who assumed her headaches were due to a common pregnancy complication was diagnosed with a brain tumour just weeks before giving birth.
Now, Bethany Wright, 26, is putting together stories for her nine-month-old son to listen to — in case she’s not around to see him grow up.
The community nurse from Glasgow, has always struggled with headaches but in March 2024 the pain got so severe she went to hospital.
Ms Wright told doctors at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh about her worrying symptom — and that she suffered high blood pressure.
She was worried she might have pre-eclampsia — a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure — but a CT scan instead showed a mass on her brain.
Another MRI scan confirmed she had a 6cm brain tumour and doctors explained she would need an operation to remove it.
However, she was told she couldn’t have the procedure while pregnant.
Ms Wright gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28, and five months later she underwent surgery to remove the mass on August 19, 2024.
Bethany Wright, 26, from Glasgow gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28. At first she assumed her headaches were due to a pregnancy complication was diagnosed with a brain tumour at 34 weeks
The community nurse from Glasgow, has always struggled with headaches but in March 2024 the pain got so severe she went to hospital (pictured left). She was worried she might have pre-eclampsia — a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure — but a CT scan instead showed a mass on her brain (pictured right)
‘It was such a weird time because I felt as if I had all the exciting moments of the end of the pregnancy taken away from me,’ she said.
‘I felt like there was a negative energy around the pregnancy, nobody was able to focus on the fact I was having my first child. Everyone was just so upset.’
Doctors were able to remove 85 per cent of the tumour and a biopsy revealed that she has a grade 3 astrocytoma — a fast-growing, aggressive tumour in the central nervous system.
Surgeons were unable to get the remaining 15 per cent due to its location on the right frontal lobe — the part of the brain that controls speech.
Following her surgery Ms Wright underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and she is now undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
Recalling her treatment Ms Wright said: ‘I struggled with chemo, I was vomiting a lot, I wasn’t able to eat and I couldn’t keep anything down.
‘I felt like I wasn’t able to do day-to-day activities which I struggled with as a new mum.
‘It has been hard, I don’t think I could have done it without my partner, Cameron, 28, and my mum, Lorraine, 62, who moved in with us — so I can put my health first.’
Doctors were able to remove 85 per cent of the tumour and a biopsy revealed that she has a grade 3 astrocytoma — a fast-growing, aggressive tumour in the central nervous system
Following her surgery Ms Wright underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and she is now undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy
The mother-of-one (pictured with partner, Cameron, 28) confessed she feels ‘robbed’ of motherhood and said she has started making a memory box for Alfie — fearing she won’t be around to see him grow up
Around nine out of every 100 brain tumours diagnosed in England between 1995 and 2017 were astrocytoma’s, according to Cancer Research.
Headaches, difficulty speaking, double vision and blurriness, trouble speaking or remembering and seizures are all symptoms of this type of brain tumour.
About 27 per cent of people diagnosed with grade 3 astrocytoma live for five years or more, The Brain Tumour Charity explains.
The mother-of-one confessed she feels ‘robbed’ of motherhood and said she has started making a memory box for Alfie — fearing she won’t be around to see him grow up.
Ms Wright said: I was told I could have three years to 10 years to live — it was hard to get my head around.’
She added: ‘When they told me it was grade 3, I didn’t how to process it — I was wondering if I would have a shorter life span.
‘I had just had a newborn son, I was trying to work out the future.
‘My main thought was that I was not going to be able to be there for my son growing up which is heartbreaking.
‘I am 26, I am still young.’
Ms Wright has started a memory box, which she plans to fill with letters and a voice recording for her son Alfie to listen to.
She said: ‘It has been super tricky, I feel like I have missed out on a lot as a mum, a lot of first-time mums go to classes with their babies and meet other mums.
‘They are having the best time and I am not able to have that.
‘If I think too deeply into leaving Alfie behind it makes me really upset so when I am with him I try to block it out of my mind.
‘I have a memory box where I can write letters, there is a voice recorder in there too. I have started putting things into it but that in itself is a hard thing to do.’
