Mum of two given devastating diagnosis after symptoms were dismissed as vertigo

A mum of two thought her life could begin again after receiving treatment for breast cancer, but then she was given a devastating diagnosis after her symptoms were initially dismissed as vertigo
A mum who thought she'd beaten cancer was devastated to find it had returned- after her symptoms were repeatedly brushed off as vertigo.
Carrie Howard, 43, rang the bell in 2023 after being given the all-clear from triple-negative breast cancer following months of chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiotherapy.
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At the time, scans from her neck down showed no sign of disease and the receptionist from Wigan, G reater Manchester, thought 'life could begin again.'
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But nearly two years later, in December 2024, Carrie started suffering from headaches and dizziness. She visited her GP three times, but each time she was told it was vertigo and sent away with tablets.
Her symptoms worsened and she took herself to A&E at Wigan Hospital in February, where doctors revealed her cancer had not only returned but had spread to her brain, progressing from stage three to stage four.
'When I rang the bell thinking I had beaten cancer, it felt like a weight lifted and life could begin again,' Carrie told PA Real Life. 'We thought the chemo had mopped up cancer anywhere else in the body and I was cancer-free.
'But the brain tumour was there all along. It was very hard having to sit the boys down again and say 'mummy has to go through more treatment'. If I knew at the time, I would have had a private MRI scan to check my entire body.'
Carrie first found a pea-sized lump in her left breast in July 2022 while putting on her pyjamas. An MRI scan at Wigan Hospital confirmed it was stage three triple-negative breast cancer - a fast-spreading and aggressive type and that it had already reached her lymph nodes.
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'It was a shock,' she said. 'I thought they would run some tests and send me home but they said the chemo would mop it up and rid me of it.
'It was brutal – I lost my hair, my eyelashes, my eyebrows but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and was fighting to beat it.'
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In January 2023, she had a mastectomy and underwent radiotherapy. A follow-up scan three months later showed no signs of cancer, and she rang the bell in celebration.
'It felt worth it,' she said. 'We'd put our lives on hold and now it was over.'
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She slowly returned to normal life, going back to work, cheering her sons on at football training and enjoying a family holiday in Turkey.
But in December 2024, Carrie started getting headaches, veering to the right when she walked and feeling as though she might collapse.
Despite three GP visits and prescriptions for vertigo, she returned to A&E, where an MRI scan revealed a shadow on her brain. 'Doctors did an MRI and then took us into a separate room and told us there was a shadow on the scan,' she said.
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Further scans confirmed that her triple-negative breast cancer had travelled to her brain before the chemo and had managed to survive the treatment.
The brain is protected by a blood-brain barrier, which stops harmful substances and in some cases chemotherapy from getting through.
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Doctors diagnosed Carrie with stage four metastatic brain cancer. She had a seven-hour operation to remove a large tumour, followed by targeted radiotherapy to shrink a second, smaller growth.
Now, the family is waiting for results to find out whether she is finally cancer-free.
Her husband James, 43, a sales manager, said: 'We're hoping that it's all been removed and that Carrie gets to ring the bell again. But we also have an anxiety of whether it will come up somewhere else.
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'Carrie still has a lot of fight in her but you can only withstand so much in one go.'
The family is now researching alternative treatments and clinical trials both in the UK and abroad.
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James added: 'Wigan Hospital has only treated two other people who had triple-negative cancer that moved to the brain so the data just isn't there. We don't know what comes next so we need to be prepared.'
Carrie's best friend, Rebecca van der Lee, 41, has set up a GoFundMe which has already raised £17,540 to help fund future treatments.
A charity night with live music and karaoke will be held at The Farmers Arms in Bispham, Lancashire, on June 6 to help raise even more.
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'The support has been amazing, it's just incredible,' Carrie said. 'Friends are giving support and everyone is rallying together.'
Carrie and her family are raising awareness around secondary cancers, lump checks and the need for more full-body scans when cancer spreads to lymph nodes.
A link to Carrie's GoFundMe can be found here.

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Scottish Sun

7 hours ago

• Scottish Sun

Doctors said my baby boy had colic – now he lives with a lifelong seizure disorder and too many brain tumours to count

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Daily Mirror

14 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Parents worried over dreaded 8-words are saved from 'apocalyptic life'

Simon and Helen's daughter Ruby-Mae has severe complex needs. They say without Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, which faces rising costs, that life would be 'apocalyptic'. In 2023, Simon Morley and his partner Helen Bolger heard the words no parent wants to hear. "It was a scary moment when one of Ruby's epilepsy consultants told us, 'your daughter would benefit from the children's hospice'," Simon, 46, says. "But from the moment we walked through that door at Noah's Ark, it was such positivity and professionalism – it was an amazing set-up. We are part of the furniture now." ‌ Simon and Helen's seven-year-old daughter Ruby-Mae was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder, at the age of two-and-a-half. She has severe complex needs, uses a wheelchair and needs an eye-gaze device to communicate, as she is non-verbal. For her family, life would now be unthinkable without the hospice. ‌ "Boy, has this hospice changed all our lives," Simon, who has put his micro-brewery business on pause to become Ruby's primary carer. "Noah's Ark is like the oxygen mask on a plane, it helps us to then help Ruby. It is wrap-around care for the whole family. Ruby absolutely loves it. Without The Ark being there, her life would be so diminished, she would not be the happy girl she is. Our lives would be apocalyptic without Noah's Ark." Noah's Ark Children's Hospice has been caring for children since 2006 but this year found itself facing severe financial challenges as an unintended consequence of National Insurance rises introduced by the Treasury. There are over 50 children's hospices and 200 adult hospices in the UK, providing palliative care and end-of-life support to over 300,000 people a year. "The NI increase is expected to cost Noah's Ark approximately £100,000 per year" says CEO, Sophie Andrews OBE. 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Sometimes you feel like you're going crazy, but you're not, you're just dealing with things that are really difficult. We have a hospice family link worker, who I can call up for a chat." Katie, who runs a singing and drama school, adds: "When we first heard the word, 'hospice', it sounded horrible, but when Leia attended her first music therapy session, it felt so positive – it isn't what I imagined a hospice to be. Noah's Ark supports my whole family. It is not a luxury, the hospice is a lifeline, they've helped us in good and difficult times. I think people are shocked when they hear it costs something like £18k a day to run, but if you think about the breadth of services they run, not just at the hospice, but in homes too. ‌ "I've made lots of friends, we attend mum's evening, dad night's out, my boys have made friends with other siblings. If I'm totally honest, Noah's Ark is the most important place with the most important people for us. We moved house to be closer. They give us the opportunity to create amazing memories. I've been able to leave Leia there, when I gave birth to the boys, because they can provide the specialist care Leia needs. A good few times a year, we use their respite service." Ruby's dad Simon says he and his partner Helen, 44, a commissioner for health and social care services in London, can't imagine life without Noah's Ark Children's Hospice. "Due to Ruby's severe complex needs, we're really limited on what we can do," he says. "So, we spend a lot of time here, she absolutely loves it. "They have an amazing playground that allows you to wheel the wheelchairs onto the swing, they host events, there is a play team and soft play. One of Ruby's highlights was playing on the trampoline with an Arsenal player, and she's played a bit of football with Tottenham Hotspur's women's team. Noah's Ark has a huge bank of great volunteers who come into the home, it allows me to wash up, put the laundry on and cook. The only time we feel safe leaving Ruby is with Noah's Ark or at school." ‌ A government spokesperson said: "The government recognises the incredible work that children and young people's hospices do across the country. We are investing £100 million to improve hospices' facilities and a further £26 million specifically for children's hospices this year, the biggest investment in hospices in a generation. We are also working to make sure the palliative and end of life care sector is sustainable in the long term. The decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions allowed us to increase investment in health and care by £26 billion this year." Helen says the hospice is invaluable. "We use the respite service, Ruby loves it, and for us that two-day weekend is so valuable, it allows us to be us and not carers. We spent 24 hours just sleeping and recovering, we can enjoy a meal out or the cinema and feel normal. Without the hospice we would be a wreck, and miserable." She adds: "Ruby is such a happy, sociable little girl, who loves joking around. Her care is exhausting, there is no let-up, but her smile makes it all worth-while. Before Noah's Ark, all we could see was a negative future. Now we're happy again, we smile."

South Wales Guardian

a day ago

• South Wales Guardian

Kate praises work of children's hospices days after missing Royal Ascot

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