1 week Ago By [email protected] (Neil Shaw)
A mum whose brain tumour was misdiagnosed as panic attacks is raising funds for life-saving treatment not available on the NHS - after HRT treatment made it grow back. Catherine Wilcockson has raised thousands of pounds in aid of cancer treatment over the years but says she’s now being denied vital surgery due to lack of funding. The 41-year-old was first diagnosed with a benign tumour back in 2019 after suffering bouts of daily seizures, which were dismissed as panic attacks.
She underwent a nine-hour procedure where doctors managed to remove 80 per cent of the growth before having lengthy chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. The remaining grade two astrocytoma then shrunk to just 5 per cent before she was given the all-clear in June 2020. But after experiencing headaches and pains in October 2022, which doctors initially ruled as a sinus infection, Catherine found her tumour had started growing.
The cause of growth was likely down to the HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) she’d been placed on that had been feeding the tumour. The further blow came when tests revealed the tumour was resisting chemotherapy and continuing to grow so Catherine sought alternative treatments. After discovering radiosurgery and submitting a request, she was shocked to see her application had been denied due to a lack of funding - despite raising thousands for the Western Park Hospital just a few years ago.
Mum-of-three Catherine fears that if she can’t raise the £20,000 bill that the treatment costs privately, she might not survive long term. Catherine, 41, from Sheffield, said: “Before I started the HRT the tumour was gone, it just left me with me residuum that was reducing. I went and had the blood done and I had high hormone levels.
But since he put me on the HRT six months later it had fed it and grew. "I went to see them after that scan and they put me on a tablet form of chemo. I had two scans and it was still rising in the residuum.
They realised my tumour has a mutation which stops it from spreading, but it's resistant to chemo. “They put me on back on the PCV chemo. I had four rounds but in the last two rounds I came out in hives head to foot, so I had to spend a day in Western Park Hospital.
They had to take the procarbazine out, so I only had two types of chemotherapy, because I had a massive reaction.” After finding out the news Catherine spoke to her surgeon who advised that further operation could result in serious consequences, including a stroke or bleed on the brain. Catherine has been left feeling angry after receiving the devastating news.
She added: “I spoke to my surgeon saying they could go back in but there’s a risk of a stroke or a bleed. Because I've had 30 rounds of chemo, the vessels in my brain are fragile. I said to them that I’d seen a treatment that could cure it.
I mentioned about the gamma knife. They treat people on the NHS with radiosurgery. “They turned it down because there’s no funding apparently.
What I don’t get is that I’ve raised thousands for brain tumour research and Western Park Hospital. It is a massive kick in the teeth. I just don’t understand where this money is going.
When people are raising this much money, where is the treatment? Where is the money? “My nana died at 31, she had cervical cancer, and nothing has changed. It’s about £20,000 to pay for it. They expect an ill patient who’s just come out of work and lost her license to pay for it, there’s no help.
Radiosurgery can cure low-grade brain tumours. You have your head put into a brace. They put four pinholes to keep it in place.
"They target that area that has grown, and it’s not with a knife. It chops it all up with a beam. It chops it up and stops the growth and makes it shrink.
The low grades are like benign tumours, the higher grades are cancerous tumours. If it turns cancerous and it's resistant to chemo, I can't have anything else.” She added: “The HRT, it feeds gliomas.
Why would you put me on that? I went ballistic. Up until then the scans were showing it reducing. I’ve never refused any treatment.
I’ve never denied any treatment. It’s not good enough. “I had to sell my car, I can't use it for a year.
The government need to cough more money up and treat people with the right treatments.” Her friend Kelly Lindley set up a GoFundMe to try and raise the £20,000 needed for the private treatment and has since raised £5,000 in just a week. Catherine added: “If it wasn’t for Kelly, I don't know what I would have done.
I’m only still young, they think I've had the tumour for 20 years. “My daughter is scared to death. I’m raising £20,000 to cover the costs but I’ve got to pay £350 just for the first consultant.
”.
