Yorkshire mum diagnosed with terminal brain tumour after colleagues on Zoom call rang ambulance when she started slurring her words
Mother-of-three Tina Cranshaw, 51, was struck down with a debilitating headache and thought she could smell gas during a Zoom video call.
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Hide AdTina was on the call when shocked colleagues called an ambulance after she started slurring her words and her face drooped.
Doctors originally thought she'd suffered a stroke, but tests revealed she had a terminal brain tumour the size of a gold ball and just 12 months to live.
And in a shock double blow, her step-daughter Daisy, 16, was also diagnosed with a brain tumour a year later.
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Hide AdDaisy said Tina, who works for a charity, was on an online video meeting at home in Doncaster, South Yorks., when colleagues first realised something was wrong.
She said: "During the meeting, my step mum had the worst headache, and she could smell gas.
“She started slurring her words and her face drooped, so her colleagues called an ambulance."
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Hide AdTina, also mum to Theo, nine, Imogen, 28, and Abbie, 31, was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI).
Doctors initally thought she had suffered a stroke, but a CT scan revealed a shadow on her brain.
Tina was then sent to Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield for a further MRI scan, with doctors confirming there that she had a brain tumour.
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Hide AdDaisy said: “It was horrible. I was doing my mock GCSEs, so it was a really stressful time.
"I was so worried, I kept thinking: ‘This may be the last time I see my step mum’.”
On October 2, 2020, Tina underwent an operation to remove the tumour, which was the size of a golf ball.
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Hide AdBut she given the devastating diagnosis that she only had between six and 12 months to live.
Daisy, of Middlesbrough, North Yorks., said her symptoms had started in February of the same year.
Her GP put her headaches down to stress and when she went to A&E, medics had told her she had a migraine.
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Hide AdIt was only during a face-to-face appointment with her GP in September 2021 that she told him she had a blind spot on the left side of her eye.
On December 9, she had an emergency MRI scan which revealed a mass on her brain.
She was then referred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, where her tumour was confirmed.
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Hide AdLuckily for Daisy, her tumour is non-life-threatening, but she said the news was still hard to take for the family.
She added: “It was the worst thing to hear, especially after seeing what my step-mum has gone through.
“Dad is gradually losing his wife, and I thought that he could also be losing me. It was horrible.
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Hide Ad“Fortunately, they found that some of my brain tumour is dead, which is brilliant news.
“I need to have scans every three months, but I’ve been told it’s not life-threatening and they don’t need to operate yet.”
Daisy is walking 10,000 steps every day this month to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.
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Hide AdShe said: “There is such a lack of research into this devastating disease and more needs to be done.
“Not everyone is as fortunate as me to not have to have any treatment immediately like my wonderful step mum.
“She’s my inspiration in doing this as she always makes me persevere in everything I do.”