The Christmas GIFT OF LIFE

One woman shares her experience of the greatest Christmas present she could have hoped for

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Three years ago, as Christmas approached, mum of four Kirsty Drury was trying to focus on her family’s coming festivities. But she was distracted by symptoms of what seemed like recurring conjunctivitis.

‘I work as a senior manager, putting in long hours. At first, I attributed my itchy, bloodshot right eye to too many night shifts,’ says Kirsty, 46, who lives with her husband, Pete, 58, in Hertfordshire. ‘But after weeks of irritation coming and going, a friend commented that my eye was looking swollen and slightly odd, encouraging me to go to my GP.

'I finally consulted my family doctor one morning in November 2019, expecting to be prescribed ointment or eye drops. Instead, he moved a pen across my field of vision, asking me to follow it. And apparently when I looked to one side, my eye wasn't moving as expected.

Kirsty was referred for an urgent appointment that same day at an eye casualty at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, where a consultant ordered a CT scan. 'Straight afterwards, as I was called in for the results, I knew from the look on his face that something was very wrong,' she remembers. 'He'd found a mass behind my right eye. He thought it was probably benign, but at that stage, couldn't be sure. Of course, I went into panic mode, fearing the worst. Did I have cancer? Was I going to die? When you start the day with suspected conjunctivitis and end it knowing you have a brain tumour, you can’t be blamed for thinking the worst!’