A LANARK woman was diagnosed brain tumour which threatened to kill her within six months after an eye test at her local opticians.
Michelle Crawford, 44, experienced almost no symptoms at all, aside from a slight blurriness in one eye while wearing contact lenses.
The mother-of-two received life-saving treatment in 2015 to remove the tumour after optometrist and store director of Specsavers in Lanark, Rubena Kerr, referred her to Hairmyres Hospital.
The meningioma grade one tumour, located at the front of Michelle’s brain behind her left eye and thought to be around the size of an orange, was so rare, a number of surgeons and specialists from hospitals across Scotland gathered to observe her surgery and monitor her recovery.
Ms Crawford said: "It took a few months for me to book an appointment at Specsavers as I didn’t think the blurriness in my eye was anything serious.
"Rubena was really thorough and helped me try out different contact lenses to see if that would fix the problem.
"After a few appointments, I happened to mention that the problem was only at the side of my vision in my left eye and that I was also having a problem with things appearing too bright. After conducting a visual fields test, Rubena referred me to Hairmyres.
"I expected the appointment to be a few weeks later but when I found out I had to go the very next day, I started to worry something serious might be wrong."
A CT scan detected the tumour and eight weeks later, Ms Crawford underwent a 15-hour operation to have it removed.
Ms Crawford lost the sight in her left eye and suffered from aphasia which left her unable to speak for three days after she regained consciousness. She has had to relearn words and build her speech back up, but considers herself "extremely lucky".
She said: "I was only the seven person in South Scotland to undergo brain tumour treatment of this nature in the past three years and the rest either died or had to have their eye completely removed.
"Losing sight in one eye has been a huge adjustment but I know things could have been very different and I might not have been around to watch my 17 and 15-year-old sons grow up with my husband.
"I completely believe that some sort of gut instinct told me to get my vision checked out. I was so close to not bothering as it’s easy to put it on the back burner when it didn’t feel like a major problem."
The case has been highlighted to coincide with the beginning of National Eye Health Week, with a survey revealing that 35 per cent of Scots have eye issues such as black spots in their vision or being dazzled by bright lights which they have not flagged up to an optician or other healthcare professional.
Bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin is backing a campaign to encourages Scots to get regular eye checks.
It comes after his most recent routine eye test last year revealed signs that could be a precursor to macular degeneration.
He said: "To my surprise I was advised to introduce kale to my diet, and I thought it was fascinating that a simple change of eating habits could help to limit future problems.
"I only wish it was chocolate I’d been advised to eat rather than kale, as I’d have no problem sticking to that. But joking aside, I do think this is a reminder that eye tests are such an important health check and I’d urge Scots to remember this."
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