Woman with brain tumour told "go home and watch NETFLIX"

A woman claims a doctor told her to go home and watch NETFLIX after she was rushed to A&E with a headache - which turned out to be a brain tumour.Show more

Lisa Thomas, 46, went to the hospital when headaches left her in excruciating pain - but says she wasn’t taken seriously.

Despite the discomfort, she alleges a junior medic told her to “go home, rest and watch Netflix" to relax.

But, after paying for a private scan, it was revealed her headaches were in fact due to an aggressive brain tumour called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

The mum-of-two said: "I felt like I'd been hit over the head with a hammer - I had never felt a pain like it.

"But the junior doctor told me it’s nothing serious and that I should go home, rest and watch Netflix to help me relax.

"After the private scan, I remember looking up ‘GBM’ online and finding out the awful prognosis.

"After that, I couldn’t look at my two boys without crying, imagining them growing up without me being around.

"But now, my eldest son is due to start secondary school this year - which is something I didn’t ever think I’d be here for.

"I wanted to wait until I was five years clear to share my story - to help offer hope to at least one other person at a time when they may really need it.”

Lisa, an air traffic controller, first began to experience dizziness in late 2016 - even once passing out as a result.

But she was reassured it was an isolated incident and her symptoms were blamed on fatigue and sinusitis.

She then woke up with an excruciating headache months later in May 2017 and, fearing the worst, called an ambulance.

Lisa, who lives with Miles 45, and their sons Jake, 11, and Daniel, eight, was then rushed to A&E at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester.

But to her shock, she was prescribed antibiotics - and some television.

She said: "I’d never felt pain like it. I felt like I'd been hit over the head with a hammer.

"But when I got to the hospital, I felt as though I was being treated as a time waster - the staff were quite dismissive."

"The junior doctor even said to me it’s nothing serious - and that I should go home, rest and watch Netflix to help me relax.”

On the hunt for answers, Lisa marched back to her GP, but after being put on a three-month waiting list to see a specialist, she paid for a private scan.

She was diagnosed with GBM, a fast-growing brain tumour which carries with it a stark prognosis of just 12 to 18 months.

Lisa said: "At first, I couldn’t look at my two boys without crying, imagining them growing up without me being around.

"But my family were incredibly supportive. My parents even sold their house in Scotland and moved to be closer to us."

On July 17, less than a fortnight after her diagnosis, surgeons at Southampton General Hospital removed the tumour.

She also had eight weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy followed following the surgery then had scans every three months to check for re-growth.

Five years on, brave Lisa has scans just twice a year after two years of clear scans.

She said: "Now, to look at me, you wouldn’t know there is anything wrong with me. I feel I now have more energy than before my diagnosis."

She suffers some short-term memory loss, but says she combats that by writing things down to stop her forgetting things.

Lisa has beaten the odds, as just 5 per cent of patients diagnosed with this brain tumour type live for more than five years.

And she credits novel treatments, such as Gliadel wafers, which are inserted during surgery, at a private clinic in London with helping her to stay well.

Lisa and Miles are now preparing to send their eldest son to secondary school.

She said: "I recently looked around a school with him, which is something I didn’t think I’d be here for. That was incredibly surreal.”

Reflecting on her journey, she added: "I wanted to wait until I was five years clear to share my story - to help offer hope to at least one other person at a time when they may really need it.”

Hugh Adams, head of stakeholder relations at Brain Tumour Research, said: “Lisa’s story is one of hope and we’re thrilled to hear she has outlived her initial prognosis.

"We desperately need more stories like Lisa’s.

"Things like novel drug treatments – getting treatment to the area quickly and directly such as the Gliadel wafers – can be effective.

"If you can get therapeutics into the brain without systemic treatments by using new methods of drug delivery, that has to be a way of improving options of treatment for brain tumour patients."

Dr Lara Alloway, chief medical officer at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “While we cannot comment on the cases of individual patients, it is fundamental to our values that each patient receives not just high-quality care, but also a positive experience.

"We take all feedback very seriously, and should there be an occasion where we do not meet this standard, steps are put in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

"Anyone who may have concerns is always encouraged to raise it through our customer care team, as has happened in this particular instance."