‘Superfit’ footballer, 24, devastated by shock cancer diagnosis after doctors mistook it for a SPIDER phobia
A FORMER England footballer was told by doctors she had a phobia of arachnids after she fainted when seeing a spider.
But Amy Carr’s spider phobia had a much serious cause – she went on to be diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The 33-year-old from Hemel Hempstead collapsed in her bedroom after seeing a spider before waking up surrounded by paramedics.
Doctors said the episode was instigated by arachnophobia (a fear of spiders).
But after two further incidents of blacking out while at the gym, Amy decided she needed more answers.
An MRI scan revealed she had a golf-ball sized tumour on her brain which needed immediate surgery.
Amy, who’s now a personal trainer, didn’t speak for a week after surgery, which was performed while she was awake.
The first day she was able to speak it was only using her GCSE French which she’s learned years before.
Thankfully, her English returned after a day.
At the time Amy was diagnosed, she was playing professionally for IL Sandviken in Norway after a four-year football scholarship in Chicago, USA.
She is now monitored with regular scans and works as a healthy lifestyle specialist and goalkeeping coach.
During her footballing career, Amy earned 16 caps playing in goal for England u17 and u19s and also played for Chelsea, Arsenal, and Reading.
Speaking of seeing the spider, she said: “I’d never reacted that way to anything before.
“I knew I didn’t like spiders but blacking out seemed like an extreme response – I wouldn’t normally pass out just from seeing one.”
She added: “I knew the risks that came with surgery, I was warned I could die or be left with life-changing injuries. For a week after I couldn’t walk or talk.
“The first time I spoke was in response to the nurses asking me how I was.
“I replied with my GCSE grade C French of comme ci, comme ça (so-so).
“Everyone was baffled – I guess my French finally came in handy!
“The next day I was back to speaking English.”
Amy’s first symptoms began in 2013 when she saw the spider in her room and suffered a seizure.
Two more seizures followed over the next two years.
Amy then had an MRI scan in February 2015 in Hemel Hemstead hospital which found the tumour – though initially the tumour was benign.
But, by July of the same year, the tumour had become malignant and Amy had to be operated on.
She was given a 5 per cent chance of dying from the tumour while surgeons also believed an operation had a 45 per cent chance of leaving her paralysed, and a 45 per cent chance of a complete success and full recovery.
Her surgery was performed while she was awake at London UCLH hospital – cutting edge surgery where the patient has their body numbed but they are still conscious.
Amy also had “brutal” radiotherapy and chemotherapy alongside extensive physiotherapy.
She said: “When it came to radiotherapy and chemo, nothing could prepare me from its brutality.
“During the beginning, I vomited 27 times in two days. It got better but it was hard.”
The tumour impacted Amy’s coordination and she’s also noticed changes in her personality.
She said: “I’m more direct now for sure and I have to think more carefully about what I say, I also get way more tired than I used to.”
She began fitness training while going through her brutal cancer treatment – and says her dream now is to help other people going through the same thing.
Amy said: “I used to be able to kick and throw a ball from the goal to the halfway line, now I can’t.”
On October 27 Amy completed the Dublin Marathon in four hours and 28 seconds and has raised more than £2,000 for Brain Tumour Research.
Amy said: “I found the lack of support after treatment, tricky to navigate. That’s the reason I took up a career supporting people during their rehab.”
Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “Amy’s story is a reminder that brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age.
“Amy has shown incredible resilience, determination and generosity in not only sharing her own experience of the disease but supporting the community through her marathon fundraising efforts.”
The most common symptoms of a brain tumour
More than 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour every year — of which around half are cancerous — with 5,300 losing their lives.
The disease is the most deadly cancer in children and adults aged under 40, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
Brain tumours reduce life expectancies by an average of 27 years, with just 12 per cent of adults surviving five years after diagnosis.
There are two main types, with non-cancerous benign tumours growing more slowly and being less likely to return after treatment.
Cancerous malignant brain tumours can either start in the brain or spread there from elsewhere in the body and are more likely to return.
Brain tumours can cause headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting and memory problems, according to the NHS.
They can also lead to changes in personality weakness or paralysis on one side of the problem and problems with speech or vision.
The nine most common symptoms are:
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Feeling sick
- Being sick
- Memory problems
- Change in personality
- Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
- Vision problems
- Speech problems
If you are suffering any of these symptoms, particularly a headache that feels different from the ones you normally get, you should visit your GP.
Source: NHS