MEDICAL I'M BLE STILL B

Aucklander Rebecca Gilb blood clots, a heart at

Auckland dental receptionist Rebecca Gilbert suffered excruciating daily back pain for five years before she was given a scan that showed a tumour on her spine.

Despite being told surgery might leave her paralysed, the 37-year-old bravely went ahead with an operation, where the tumour was successfully removed and declared non-cancerous. But a week later, Rebecca experienced a medical nightmare that left her on the brink of death.

"When I first started getting back pain, I figured it was part of my job as a dental assistant, which I did for 12 years before I got sick, because you're always leaning to the side," says Rebecca, who was swimming, walking and doing F45 fitness at the time. "My GP said I just needed to exercise and take pain relief more often.

"In June 2021, the pain got so bad, it was consuming me. I changed to my partner Andrew's GP and was booked in for a scan two weeks later. They had to sedate me so I could lie flat without being in pain."

Finding out a tumour was responsible for her pain was a relief for Rebecca, but it wasn't what she'd been expecting! She instantly thought about cancer and was told specialists wouldn't know until they'd tested the tumour.

"I was given the pros and cons of having surgery to remove it, but was told I'd be in a wheelchair by my midfifties if I didn't, so I had no choice really," recalls Rebecca, who was in surgery for 11 hours. "I was absolutely petrified knowing I was going in and might come out not being able to walk if it went wrong. But my family and partner told me it'd be OK and it'd be the end to my pain." Luckily, the surgeons successfully removed 90% of the tumour, but told Rebecca they'd left behind small lesions that were too risky to touch.