A college student suffered with headaches during her first term. What she thought was a symptom of the flu turns out to be symptoms of aggressive brain cancer.
Aggressive Brain Cancer
Laura Nuttall was in her first term at King’s College University in London when she started suffering from headaches. Although they were not serious headaches, they were persistent and rather annoying to her. She was told to monitor the situation during an initial check-up, but during an eye test for the University Navy Corps, the doctor noticed some abnormalities.
The next day, Laura became so violently ill that her mother and sister travelled to London so that they could take her to a hospital where she was referred to a neurologist. A CT scan at 3 a.m. revealed two brain tumors, but an MRI scan later that day revealed that she actually had at least six.
Laura underwent a surgery as the largest tumor was already causing seizures as well as high pressure in the skull, and a week later, pathology results showed that she had stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Experimental Treatment
Laura has so far undergone six weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and is on a one-month break before she undergoes six months of intensive chemotherapy. That said, the family is also trying to raise money for DCVax, an experimental new treatment that the National Health Service (NHS) does not pay for. Their GoFundMe page has so far raised over £46,000 or over $59,000 of the £150,000 ($192,779.70) target.
According to Laura’s mother, Nicola Nuttall, the typical survival length after diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, so they are helping her to do as many things as they can such as attending a Paul McCartney concert, and meeting Everton football players.
“We don't have a lot of time and we're doing everything we can,” Nicola said, also stating that the family is trying hard to be strong for Laura.
