Cranial Chondrosarcoma:

When Ann Maxwell discovered she had a brain tumour, her response was pragmatic: "If they fix it they will, if they can't, they can't.".........

........In the bright sitting room of her sprawling Edinburgh home, there is no sense of impending doom. There is also no talk of great fights or battles, just a realisation that problems are there to be tackled.

She doesn't look like a woman who had an operation to remove a 3cm tumour from her skull in March. The scar is hidden under her blonde hair and her pretty face has a healthy glow from running regularly..........

It was because Ann, 43, is so fit she thought little of the symptoms that would lead to a terrifying diagnosis. She said: "I noticed a slight lack of sensation in the right side of my face in November, but I wasn't concerned. "I also had a slight loss of hearing but I thought my iPod was playing up and I had a slight ringing in my ear."

She also had a sensation of pressure in her head but had always presumed it was dehydration from not drinking enough while running........

....... Her GP initially diagnosed acute sinusitis, then a virus. In fact it was the pressure of a tumour on her facial nerves that was at the root of the problem.

When she was eventually referred for an MRI scan in February she was convinced there was nothing to worry about. She said: "I felt like a fraud. You consider an MRI scanner a vital piece of equipment that there are queues for and I didn't consider myself to be a big priority. But after the scan, the radiologist looked up as he walked away and gave me a knowing smile. I know why now."

She returned a week later to a Private hospital in Edinburgh for the scan results.The GP told her she had a growth behind her ear, 3cm in size and the neurosurgeon was waiting to see her. Her husband Jonny, a top executive with Standard Life, was in America on business. As she sat alone waiting to see the neurosurgeon, she texted him. It read: "I am in shock. Have just been told I have a 3cm growth behind my ear. Am about to see the neurosurgeon."............

They were unable to give a specific diagnosis without a CT scan and in the intervening days she checked the internet and convinced herself it was a mild, benign tumour. But when she returned a week later with Jonny to visit the consultant, he was direct in his approach. He told her she had a cancerous Cranial Chondrosarcoma and it was embracing so many nerve endings that it was causing numbness, loss of hearing, taste and smell........

...........She describes the period of uncertainty that followed as a 'roller coaster' of emotions. Her children, Muir, Rory, seven, and Cameron, 12, were her first consideration. She said: "I had massive fears about not seeing my kids growing up. There were endless tears with my husband, crying for the life we might never have."......

.........With characteristic determination Ann tracked down Professor Michael Gleeson, a head and neck surgeon who had operated on 13 patients with Cranial Chondrosarcoma. Far from telling her she was on a metaphorical death row, his experience had shown the tumours could be operable and the prognosis was good. The four-hour operation to remove the majority of the tumour was carried out in March at the The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.

She was on her feet 24 hours later. It is an incurable cancer and will be there for life but the first part of her recovery has been a success.

Another operation scheduled for September should leave only one per cent of the tumour behind. It will be slow growing and if it reaches a certain level they will operate again. But so far the prognosis remains excellent and Professor Gleeson has assured her she will not die from it. It is now a condition to be managed.............

..............She said: "As a family unit we are very strong and this has brought us even closer together............

"Our strength of character has prevailed through this. There is too much to be done in the charity and in life to have it any other way."...................

'When the consultant told us, we felt extreme shock. My husband and I sat crying. Your life flashes before you and suddenly you are clinging to it......................

Excerpted from an article:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17045760&method=full&siteid=66633&headline=tumour-won-t-stop-me--name_page.html