The triple mother revealed how the first symptom of aggressive cancer in the fourth stage spilled from a small and harmless stain on her back. Gemma Allen (42) was working full -time, family life and raising three children when her doctors found nine tumors in her brain, she writes.
This life test began when her husband saw a small spot on her back, which they originally considered harmless. However, this is only until it started to feel special symptoms. “I woke up and felt like someone was touching my hand. But it was my own hand, but I didn’t feel it,” she stated. However, the feeling of tingling began to deteriorate rapidly. At work she felt problems writing on the keyboard and could not coordinate her fingers when adjusting her hair.
Finally, it was a sister who convinced Gemm to seek help immediately. She called on the Medical Assistance Line, where she recommended that she immediately came to the emergency room. There she underwent basic examinations, but just before leaving her doctor suggested a head examination to exclude a more serious cause of difficulty. Unfortunately, concerns were confirmed. The doctor told her it was a brain tumor. “My whole world turned upside down at that moment, I couldn’t breathe or think. Everything stopped,” admitted.
Finally, doctors made a biopsy sign on her back and decided that it was a melanoma, a form of skin cancer, which aggressively spread to her brain and lungs. “They confirmed that I had nine brain tumors. The largest was 35 mm, the others were small, but they were there,” she said. Due to the location of the tumor in the right hemisphere of the brain that controls the left side of the body, its neurological symptoms made sense. She immediately began to undergo treatment.
Over the course of a few weeks, her feeling returned and Gemma could normally write on the keyboard again. The joy did not last long and Only five months later, she was bothered by severe headaches and visual disturbances. The examination revealed that the largest tumor grew by 10 mm in less than a week and had to undergo immediate surgery. “They told me that if they don’t, I will lose the function of the left side of the body forever. But the operation was risky. The tumor was stuck between parts of the brain responsible for movement and sensitivity,” She explained the situation she got into.
During surgery, they put the electrode into her brain and sensors on the limbs to try to maintain movement. “When I woke up, I looked at my hand and couldn’t move it. I was afraid I would be in a wheelchair for the end of my life,” admitted. Now it moves with the help of a walker, but every step requires maximum concentration and caution.
Although her cancer is not treatable, new immunotherapeutic treatments give her hope to prolong her life. “Statistics say that 55% of people have been living with new treatments for six years, maybe longer. But it’s even early, no one really knows,” she said. “You never think it will be you. I didn’t think so. I was just a busy mom, I lived my life and suddenly I had nine brain tumors,“She added.
