A mum has alleged that she was turned away from A&E with just painkillers when in reality, she was suffering from a brain tumour. Kimberley Baggley, 27, had been enduring a persistent migraine which eventually led to her collapsing at home following a seizure.
Initially, the Staffordshire-based primary school teacher was told to take some rest by doctors after experiencing pins and needles on one side of her face back in June 2023. Despite this advice, the situation escalated, ending in an emergency admission to Royal Stoke University Hospital where scans revealed her critical condition.
Baggley underwent surgery, removing most of the tumour, and is now facing treatment for a grade three astrocytoma—an aggressive and malignant brain cancer. She’s bravely faced 33 rounds of radiotherapy and is presently undergoing chemotherapy.
Speaking about the ordeal, Kimberley recounted: “‘You have a brain tumour’ are the five words that changed our lives for the foreseeable future. You never think something like this is going to happen to you, but when it does, your whole world revolves around something that you know nothing about – it’s terrifying.”
“Your life stops when you’re diagnosed with a brain tumour. There is so much unknown ahead of you, and a long process that puts other parts of your life on hold. It’s time things changed, for me and everyone else living with a brain tumour. That’s why research into more effective treatments is so urgently needed.”, reports Birmingham Live.
(Image: The Brain Tumour Charity/Kimberley Baggley/SWNS)
Kimberley was at work when she started suffering from a migraine and got sent home. She started to experience tingling pain in her face so went to her local doctor and A&E department around five times but she was sent away with painkillers.
Kimberley said: “You need to take time for yourself, go on a spa day and ‘it’s definitely not a brain tumour’ were all things said to me that week. I’d never even thought it could be, I didn’t know anything about brain tumours and was so care-free with life, it wasn’t something I had even dreamed would be the case.”
It was a week later when husband Luke and son George found Kimberley unconscious. Kimberley added: “I was terrified, I didn’t know what was going on. Never in a million years did I think that it would be a brain tumour – it was total confusion.”
“In that moment, your whole world crashes. I know it sounds cliché, but you don’t see how things will get better – it is terrifying. My husband was terrified as he didn’t know what was going to happen.”
(Image: The Brain Tumour Charity/Kimberley Baggley/SWNS)
Kimberley, who has been battling a brain tumour, opened up about her journey, recalling her consultant’s words: “I remember my consultant said that it wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best tumour to get and that put me at ease. I was quite naïve when I first got diagnosed as I am such a positive person and always try to make the best out of a situation. I thought I would have the operation and that would be it.”
Post-surgery complications led to further operations and a struggle with sepsis, but she has fought through 33 radiotherapy sessions and is undergoing her 10th chemo round. Kimberley acknowledged the toll on her family: “The person that my diagnosis has affected the most is my husband. He has had to carry on going to work whilst trying to look after me and our son. He has taken on two roles and been mum and dad for the past year.”
The impact extended to her young son, who faced his own heartbreak: “My little lad found it tough at first, one day he came out with ‘mum are you going to die’ which was tough to hear. It has affected them and my wider family, to watch someone you love go through something this awful must be terrifying for them too.”
Following her diagnosis, Kimberley took on a daring abseil down Anfield Stadium, raising £7,000 for The Brain Tumour Support, and established a support group in Stoke-on-Trent to aid others navigating a cancer diagnosis. The Brain Tumour Charity has allocated a £225,000 Future Leaders grant to explore more effective treatments for high-grade brain tumours, such as Kimberley’s, using immunotherapy methods.
Dr Simon Newman, chief scientific officer at The Brain Tumour Charity, commented: “High-grade brain tumours are some of the most devastating brain tumours and current treatments are just not good enough. We hope that by understanding the immune system and how it responds to brain tumours, we can improve immunotherapy treatment options and make the same progress in brain tumours that we have seen in other cancers.”
“Funding through our Future Leaders programme will continue to transform the research landscape and help us accelerate a cure for this disease.”
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