A woman was diagnosed with a brain tumour after getting blurry vision while she was pregnant.
Abbie Keet developed the golf ball-sized tumour and started having eye problems when she was pregnant with her first child.
The 24-year-old said that after the birth of her son Hudson in August 2023, it got worse – and she would go blind for 30 seconds every five minutes.
She booked an appointment with her local opticians, who suspected she had papilledema – swelling of the optic disc – but hospital tests revealed she had a large mass on the brain.
Mrs Keet later had a biopsy, which confirmed she had craniopharyngioma – a rare, non-cancerous brain tumour which usually grows near the pituitary gland – and was booked for an operation to remove the tumour in February 2024.
Surgeons were able to remove most of the tumour, but due to its location, they were unable to remove it all and Mrs Keet has to go for tests every six months to check for any growth.
Despite her symptoms starting whilst she was pregnant, doctors told her they didn’t relate to her pregnancy.
Mrs Keet, a stay at home mother from Bognor Regis, Sussex, said: ‘I didn’t really have a good pregnancy from the start, but in my second trimester, my sickness was awful.
‘In my third trimester, my eyes started to go funny – my vision was going blurry.
‘I gave birth to my son, and my eyes got worse. I was going blind for 30 seconds at a time every five minutes.’
Mrs Keet was transferred to the eye clinic at Chichester Hospital, where she had further tests.
She said: ‘The hospital called me within a few hours, they did more tests on me, and sent me to the emergency floor.
‘I had some blood tests and a CT scan. The doctor came back into the room and told me I had a large mass on the brain.’
From there, she was transferred to a neurosurgeon at Southampton Hospital, where doctors said she had a craniopharyngioma – but needed a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.
In January 2024, Mrs Keet went into hospital for a biopsy, which confirmed her initial diagnosis given to her by her neurosurgeon.
‘When I first got referred to Southampton, I was going blind every couple of minutes, and I was blind for longer.
‘When the biopsy confirmed that I had a tumour, it was a sigh of relief that I knew what tumour it was and that it was benign.
‘When we got the news, it was a sigh of relief that it wasn’t cancerous, but I had a whole new worry about the surgery that I was preparing for.’
In February 2024, she went for surgery to remove the tumour.
The surgery lasted eight hours, and doctors were not able to remove all the tumour due to its location on her pituitary gland.
The mother said: ‘My tumour was pushing on my optical nerve, which was linked to my pituitary gland, so they had to leave the tiniest amount, but they got the most out that they could.
‘I was in there for eight hours, my pituitary gland died in the process, so I am on hormone replacement, and I could go through early menopause because of it.’
After her operation, Mrs Keet said she struggled with recovery; her wound kept weeping, and in November 2024, she underwent more surgery.
She will also have to go for scans every six months to make sure the tumour doesn’t grow.
She said: ‘I had to return to the hospital multiple times to have a wound cleaned out.
‘I then underwent more surgery to have my bone flap removed due to the infection. In November 2024, I then had my last surgery, which was having my metal plate fitted.
‘I now have to go for a regular scan due to them not being able to remove all of the tumour because of the area the tumour was in.’
Mrs Keet said her diagnosis meant she missed out on most of Hudson’s early years’ development, and she is keen to make up for lost time.
‘This had a massive effect on us as a family,’ the mother said.
‘I missed my son’s first year of growing up due to spending a lot of that time in and out of hospitals. My partner was left to care for me while taking care of our son.
‘My mother-in-law had to move in with us because I couldn’t even be alone with him, as I could go blind at any moment.
‘I am making up for lost time now and spending as much time as I can with him.’
Catherine Fraher, Director of Services and Digital Health at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: ‘Thank you to Abbie for bravely sharing her story to raise awareness of brain tumours.
‘We know that every family deals with a brain tumour diagnosis and its aftermath in their own unique way.
‘That’s why The Brain Tumour Charity offers support to anyone who needs it. It’s so important for them to know that they are not alone.
‘You can find out more about our specialist teams by calling our Support and Information Line on 0808 800 0004 or via our website – https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org/’