Logan music teacher Catherine Mundy fights life threatening brain tumour
In a cruel blow, a successful southeast Queensland musician is dealing with hearing loss as she battles a brain tumour doctors think may have been growing for up to 15 years.
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After a lifetime of working in the music industry, Catherine Mundy is now devastatingly losing her hearing as doctor’s fight to remove a huge brain tumour and save her life.
Cath Mundy, 50, of Logan, makes up half of touring music duo Mundy-Turner with her husband Jay Turner.
The pair met backstage in March 1995 when Mr Turner was playing at Victoria’s Port Fairy Folk Festival, and Brisbane-based singer-songwriter Ms Mundy was performing in an a cappella trio.
In their time together they’ve released six albums, taught countless students, toured, and are proud parents of a 15-year-old son.
It all started in early 2021 when Ms Mundy noticed the left side of her face was constantly numb.
“The strange numbness didn’t go away … my lips, teeth, tongue, gums, cheeks, chin, and nose. It felt like I was coming off a dental anaesthetic,” Ms Mundy said.
“Then the numbness started creeping up around my left eye, forehead and temple. My tongue started tasting weird and feeling quite swollen. Then the balance issues, daily dizzy spells, and difficulty articulating and swallowing.
“After 18 months of chasing a diagnosis and trying to heal myself with exercises and acupuncture, I discovered the culprit is a large brain tumour.”
Ms Mundy has named her brain tumour ‘Mallory’ and said she was a Vestibular Schwannoma, also known as an Acoustic Neuroma.
“The doctors think she must have been growing for 10-15 years to get so large. She measures 3.3 x 2.9cm. Mallory’s a chunky lass,” she said.
“Thankfully Mallory is non-cancerous but has grown quite rapidly of late.
“She is in a position which not only has the potential to block the essential draining of cerebral-spinal fluid but also to cause increasing damage, dysfunction and eventually be inconsistent with life.”
Ms Mundy had her first brain surgery on July 29. She was in hospital for weeks recovering and it took her five whole days before she was able to eat solid food and drink water.
“Everything feels a bit topsy-turvy and weird. We are finding our way, day by day, to paraphrase one of Jay’s songs,” Ms Mundy said.
“We are treasuring every moment and remembering to breathe, breathe, breathe.
“I was absolutely terrified to begin with but am trying to come at it from a place of love and to remain grateful.”
After the first 12-hour brain surgery Ms Mundy suffered the unfortunate side effect of severe hearing loss.
“Before the surgery, tests showed I had mild left-ear hearing loss. We chose a surgical approach where hearing could possibly be retained, but I was warned, there was only a small chance of it,” she said.
“So it was not a huge surprise that post-op, there is very little hearing in the left ear. True, I am not enjoying being almost-completely deaf on one side, but I am adapting.
“The left ear is accompanied by a constant loud ringing … with only one ear, working out the direction of sounds is often quite confusing. More than two or three sounds competing for that ear can also be overwhelming.”
A few months on and Ms Mundy said a recent MRI revealed Mallory had shrunk to being about 2.3 x 2.6cm since the surgery.
“The remaining shell is what’s too attached to the nerves to be disturbed without dangerously messing with nerve function,” Ms Mundy said.
Her doctor said if the tumour grew again over the next six months then they would start radiotherapy.
“From what I’ve read, the likelihood that it will grow over the next two years is low,” Ms Mundy said.
“We’re playing a long game. Continue to monitor the shrinking Mallory. Further action only if required.
“Emotionally, I am feeling a little wobbly and my face and tongue is still numb.
“It’s small enough now that it won’t kill me but I don’t know how I’ll go returning to work and my confidence has certainly taken a hit … we’ve just got to keep an eye on it.”
A GoFundMe page has been started to financially support Ms Mundy while she recovers from her surgery over the next six months.
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