A mother of a child who assumed her headaches were the result of a common pregnancy complication was diagnosed with a brain tumor just weeks before giving birth.
Now Bethany Wright, 26, is putting together stories for her nine-month-old son to listen to – just in case she isn’t around to watch him grow up.
The community nurse from Glasgow has always suffered from headaches, but in March 2024 the pain became so severe that she went to hospital.
Mrs Wright told doctors at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh about her worrying symptom – and that she was suffering from high blood pressure.
She worried she might have preeclampsia – a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure – but a CT scan showed a growth on her brain instead.
Another MRI scan confirmed she had a 6cm brain tumor and doctors explained she would need surgery to remove it.
However, she was told she could not undergo the procedure while pregnant.
Mrs Wright gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28 and five months later underwent surgery to remove the mass on August 19, 2024.
Bethany Wright, 26, from Glasgow, gave birth to her son Alfie on March 28. Initially, she assumed her headaches were due to a pregnancy complication. After 34 weeks the diagnosis of a brain tumor was made.
The community nurse from Glasgow has always suffered from headaches, but in March 2024 the pain became so severe that she went to hospital (pictured left). She worried she might have preeclampsia – a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure – but a CT scan showed a growth on her brain instead (pictured right)
“It was such a strange time because I felt like all the exciting moments at the end of the pregnancy were taken away from me,” she said.
‘I felt like there was a negative energy around the pregnancy, no one could focus on the fact that I was having my first child. Everyone was so upset.”
Doctors were able to remove 85 percent of the tumor and a biopsy revealed that she has a grade 3 astrocytoma – a fast-growing, aggressive tumor in the central nervous system.
Surgeons were unable to obtain the remaining 15 percent due to its location in the right frontal lobe – the part of the brain that controls speech.
After her operation, Mrs Wright underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is now undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
Reflecting on her treatment, Mrs Wright said: ‘I had trouble with the chemo, I vomited a lot, I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t keep anything down.
‘I felt like I couldn’t do the daily activities that I struggled with as a new mother.
‘It’s been hard, I don’t think I could have done it without my partner, Cameron, 28, and my mother, Lorraine, 62, who moved in with us – so I can put my health first.’
Doctors were able to remove 85 percent of the tumor and a biopsy revealed that she has a grade 3 astrocytoma – a fast-growing, aggressive tumor in the central nervous system.
After her operation, Mrs Wright underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is now undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy
The mum-of-one (pictured with partner Cameron, 28) admitted she felt ‘robbed’ of motherhood and said she has started making a memory box for Alfie – fearing she will be gone to watch him grow up
According to Cancer Research, around nine in every hundred brain tumors diagnosed in England between 1995 and 2017 were astrocytoma.
Headaches, difficulty speaking, double vision and blurriness, problems speaking or remembering, and seizures are all symptoms of this type of brain tumor.
About 27 percent of people diagnosed with grade 3 astrocytoma live for five years or more, The Brain Tumor Charity explains.
The mother-of-one admitted she felt ‘robbed’ of motherhood and said she has started making a memory box for Alfie – fearing she won’t be around to see him grow up.
Mrs Wright said: I was told I had three to 10 years to live – it was hard to find out.’
She added: ‘When they told me it was grade 3, I didn’t know how to process it – I wondered if I would have a shorter lifespan.
‘I had just had a newborn son, I was trying to figure out the future.
‘My main thought was that I wouldn’t be able to be there for my son growing up, which is heartbreaking.
‘I’m 26, I’m still young.’
Mrs Wright has started a memory box, which she plans to fill with letters and a voice recording for her son Alfie to listen to.
She said: ‘It’s been super awkward, I feel like I’ve missed a lot as a mum, a lot of new mums go to school with their babies and meet other mums.
‘They are having a good time and I can’t have that.
‘If I think too hard about leaving Alfie I get very upset, so when I’m with him I try to put it out of my mind.
‘I have a memory box that I can write letters in, and it also has a voice recorder. I started putting things in there, but that in itself is difficult.’