A WOMAN who was diagnosed with secondary brain cancer a year after overcoming breast cancer, has pledged to help find a cure so no-one else has to go through the same experience.
Carlie Buchanan, 41, from Grove was first diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer after noticing a lump in December 2018, which her sister Jasmine Reid, 44, encouraged her to get checked out.
After 21 rounds of chemotherapy and three weeks of radiotherapy, Mrs Buchanan had a mastectomy in September 2019.
In 2021, Mrs Buchanan started to experience headaches, it was not until the pain became so severe that it caused her to take a sharp intake of breath, that her sister encouraged her to get checked out.
Read also: Didcot mum swims a mile in ice cold water for multiple sclerosis
In February last year, she saw her GP and was immediately referred to the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Mrs Buchanan said: “The headaches felt like I’d been hit in the head with a plank of wood. Jas picked me up from the GP surgery, as I was advised not to drive. I had a scan as soon as I arrived at the JR and was told I had a tumour on my brain, likely to be secondary from my breast cancer.
“It felt like and out-of-body experience. I was in a room by myself and had just been told I had a brain tumour. All I wanted to know was the prognosis and treatment.”
She was given steroids for the swelling and remained in hospital until she was well enough to go home and wait for a date for brain surgery.
Four months later, surgeons at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford removed the tumour, and due to being at high risk of having seizures, Mrs Buchanan, her husband John, 48, and their two children Ewan, eight, and Louis, five, moved in with Jas and her daughter, Eva, 13, for six weeks.
Mrs Buchanan said: “When I came round from the operation, I felt normal. I didn’t have pain compared to my treatment for breast cancer. At the point I was discharged, the medical team was confident they had removed all traces of the tumour and I would have a checkup in three months’ time.”
Read also: Call to create highways for hedgehogs by West Oxfordshire District Council
In December, an MRI scan revealed the devastating news that the tumour had returned, this time in multiple locations on her brain.
The sisters have now turned their focus to raising awareness of Mrs Buchanan's journey with cancer by starting a Facebook page called: ‘A Year to Remember - Brain Tumour Research’ alongside a pledge to raise £27,400 for Brain Tumour Research which could fund ten days of research at one of the charity’s Centres of Excellence.
Mrs Buchanan said: “Our aim is to help as many people as we can through fundraising and our online blog so no-one else has to go through this experience.”
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok
Got a story for us? Send us your news and pictures here
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here