Medics discover woman has tennis ball-sized brain tumour during WOMB operation



A woman who visited hospital for a routine operation had her life saved by medics who discovered a tumour in her brain the size of a tennis ball.

Cara Prestidge needed life-saving surgery after doctors found the massive tumour by chance.

Hairdresser Cara had gone to University Hospital, Coventry for the womb operation.

Lucky: Cara Prestridge with neurosurgeon Amar Saxena, bottom right, nurse Ian Edwards and the brain scan showing the huge tumour

But doctors called for a CT scan of her brain after she had problems regaining consciousness.

When the growth was found surgeons informed Cara’s family and spent nearly four hours removing the killer 10cm tumour, which turned out to be non-cancerous.

Cara, 36, said: ‘I was in the right place at the right time - I’d suffered from bad headaches for years but just put it down to migraines.

‘It was just completely unbelievable. I was on morphine at the time so it took a while to sink in, and I’m still not sure it has sunk in now.

‘When I woke up I was convinced I was going to die, it was a real shock.

‘My family were all devastated at first when they heard what I was going to have done, and felt a bit guilty because I had moaned about headaches for years and they had never taken me seriously.

‘The hospital was absolutely fantastic. The nurses, doctors, everyone who helped me I couldn’t say a bad word about. Even the food was good!’

Cara added her family, including husband Chris, 34, were as shocked as she was when they were told about the gigantic growth which needed immediate medical attention.

She spent a total of 12 days - two days in intensive care and later in neurosurgery ward - recovering from her operation in April.

Cara added: ‘When I first came around from the anaesthetic and my family were telling me what had happened I thought they were lying.

‘Then I thought that the tumour had been cancerous and they were lying about that. The staff say this was probably because of the after affects of the morphine. I don’t think it has still sunk in.

‘I have never seen anyone as relieved as my husband when I woke up.

‘There’s always a risk when you do brain surgery, and the whole thing has completely turned our lives around.

‘It was a real miracle, and it really puts the rest of your life in perspective.

‘I could”ve been walking around with this tumour for years and something much more serious could have happened.

‘I want to thank all nurses and teams that work on the neurology ward and critical care and also nurses on gynaecology ward for their kindness to my family.

Surgeon Amar Saxena, who performed the miraculous three and a half hour procedure, said: ‘I have no doubt this operation saved her life and I have been very pleasantly surprised by how she has recovered so quickly from a major operation on the brain.

‘Cara had a meningioma which is a type of tumour that develops from the membrane covering the brain.

‘While these are not rare it is very unusual for her to have had such a large growth and not have a clue about it.

‘Normally patients would have symptoms like progressive weakness or numbness or they may present with fits.

‘It’s very satisfying for me to have been able to help her.’