Brain tumour survivor’s sponsored walk from Eastbourne to Hastings

Alex Smith, 37, who works for the Department for Transport (DfT) in St Leonards, is also doing the walk from Beachy Head to her offices in Ashdown House to raise awareness and money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

Last year she was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a grapefruit and underwent more than 10 hours of surgery.

Alex said: “It’s been nearly a year since I found out I had a brain tumour and I want to do everything I can to raise awareness and support for other victims. Every year my work hold a charity walk, and this year it’s in memory of an amazing colleague, Maureen Pitt. Apart from having migraines since my early teens, I was rarely ever ill. In August 2018 my migraines started to get worse and were in my sleep, which had never happened before. On February 26 last year my migraines during my sleep terrified me and the next morning I called NHS Direct. I spoke to a paramedic and was advised to go to A&E. Blood tests were taken and I was sent for a CT scan. I was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a grapefruit and rushed to hospital in Brighton.

“I underwent more than 10 hours of brain surgery. Not only did they remove the squatter, they also had to remove a bone from my eye the tumour had crushed. I then spent three days in HDU and barely woke up. Once I was back on the main ward, I was so lucky to have visits from my lovely friends and colleagues from the DfT.”

Alex was then diagnosed with a brain infection and placed on intravenous antibiotics for eight weeks.

She added: “Last June I had a follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon, both to discuss if the brain infection had gone, and to show me my MRI scans pre-op.

“I had no idea just how big the tumour was, the MRI showed that it was almost ¼ the size of my brain. The surgeon explained just how lucky I was, he was surprised that I had not suffered a stroke as there were large blood clots on the main arteries into the brain, and that I had not gone blind in my left eye as the bone had been crushed and putting pressure on my eye.

“It has been a long and painful recovery, and I am by no means fully recovered. However I am determined that this will not hinder my life.”

She will be undertaking the charity walk on April 24.

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mosmarvellousmarch.

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