Pregnant woman, 25, claims her declining eyesight was dismissed by doctors as ‘migraines’ until she went BLIND – in fact she had a brain tumor

A Cheshire woman who suffered debilitating headaches that left her bedridden and blind in one eye claims doctors told her her symptoms were simply ‘severe migraines’.

But within six months, 25-year-old Tia Bradbury, who was five months pregnant at the time, discovered that these problems were in fact signs of a brain tumor the size of a grape.

Now that she has undergone life-saving brain surgery to remove the growth, she is warning others to trust their gut when it comes to worrying symptoms.

“I would always tell everyone that you know your body inside out, that you have to keep pushing until you are taken seriously,” she said.

“If I had left it and not kept going back to the hospital, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

Mrs Bradbury started suffering from migraines and ‘flickering eyes’ in December last year and visited her GP, who told her she was suffering from hemiplegic migraines, which usually cause changes in vision.

However, the prison officer said the vision in her left eye was “getting worse day by day” and she had begun to feel irritable – both warning signs of a brain tumor.

She was soon suffering from two to three migraine attacks a week, leaving her unable to get out of bed and sometimes unable to speak, even though she was 22 weeks pregnant.

In April 2024, Ms Bradbury was shocked when she woke up to discover she was completely blind in her left eye.

She quickly made an appointment at the local optician, thinking she needed glasses.

But the optician explained that her left eye was not responding to light and urged her to go to hospital.

But even after going blind in her left eye, Ms Bradbury claims she had to ‘insist’ on an MRI scan as doctors were still ‘adamant’ she was suffering from hemiplegic migraines.

An MRI two weeks later revealed a 3cm tumor in the center of her brain, which was pressing on her left optic nerve and growing rapidly, causing blindness.

‘My eyesight just got worse and worse. “I was completely blind in one eye and my right side also started moving a little,” she said.

‘It was quite sudden, it went from flickering to not being able to see anything. It was so strange.

‘I knew something was wrong by the amount of pain I was in. No one should have to be in so much pain from a headache.

‘I noticed some personality changes. I was irritated by everything. I wasn’t myself. I found no joy in many things.

‘They said it could either be due to the pain I was having from the tumor, or the tumor itself which can cause personality changes.’

According to The Brain Tumor Charity, more than 12,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with brain tumors every year.

Headache is the most common symptom, but vision changes, seizures, dizziness, fatigue, personality changes, and loss of taste and smell are all telltale signs of a brain tumor.

Ms Bradbury felt she was not ‘taken seriously’ because she was a ‘young girl’ who looked as if she was exaggerating her pain.

She admitted she was worried about her pregnancy and how the baby would react to the anaesthetic, but thankfully the procedure was a success in May 2024 and the baby was ‘completely fine’.

After the twelve-hour operation, her tumor was removed and her vision returned. But she still has regular MRI scans for monitoring.

For Mrs Bradbury, the hardest part about the operation was the impact on her two-year-old daughter.

She said: ‘It was such a nerve-wracking time because we didn’t know how I would react because I have a heart condition. It was just a scary time.

‘I was more afraid that something would happen to me and that I would have to leave my little girl and my partner behind. That was the worst.

‘So much could have gone wrong. I just don’t know if anything would affect the operation.

‘But we did have a good support network, we got through it and that’s good.

‘The whole family really pitched in and helped. My partner spent most days with me in the hospital and took care of our daughter.

‘My little girl suffered more after the operation because she spent a lot of time with her grandparents. When she saw me, she wasn’t allowed to play with me, I wasn’t allowed to pick her up, I had no energy.

‘She was probably very confused by the whole thing. But everyone was very supportive and helped her through it too.”

Ms Bradbury admitted she ‘struggled’ with her appearance after the operation as half of her head was shaved off and she had a ‘big’ scar on her head.

‘I was very confused afterwards. It really shocked me because it changed my appearance. “Half my head was shaved, I had a big scar going all the way across my head,” she said.

‘I really struggled with that, I’m such a young girl and it really affected me. It was a huge change that I hadn’t really prepared for.’

The mother is now urging others with similar symptoms to ‘trust their gut’ and see a doctor.

She said: ‘I would always tell everyone that you know your body inside out, you have to keep pushing until you are taken seriously.

“If I had left it and not kept going back to the hospital, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.

‘It didn’t take long to process the information, it wasn’t great, I wish I had been taken a bit more seriously.’

Now Ms Bradbury says she has no migraines, no pain and has a different perspective on how short and precious life is.

The hospital trust and Specsavers were contacted for comment.