Brain cancer sufferer bringing hope and awareness to others

THE very first sign of a potentially deadly brain tumour is often a shock seizure or a painful headache which won’t go away, explains Farrar’s Sarah Boyd

THE first sign of a potentially deadly brain tumour is often a shock seizure or a painful headache which won’t go away, says Farrar’s Sarah Boyd.

For Ms Boyd, the first indication she had a grade 4 GBM glioblastoma — the deadliest brain cancer — came at 4am on September 27 when she woke up to worried ambulance officers looking down at her.

Ms Boyd, then 26, had a violent seizure and her partner called emergency services.

Within days, she was diagnosed with a stage 3 brain tumour — a diagnosis which was soon upgraded to a grade 4.

“The neurosurgeon said it had been growing for four or five years,” she said. “I hadn’t had any symptoms prior to the seizure.”

Ms Boyd went into her first surgery in high spirits, determined to overcome the golf-ball sized tumour growing in her head.

“I bounced back pretty well after the surgery,” she said.

“I didn’t know what to expect.

I’d never broken a bone in my life — never had anything wrong with me, my immune system was great.”

After the surgery, she went to Victoria for a few weeks, and came back to the heartbreaking news that the tumour had grown back.

Having now endured a second round of surgery, and six weeks of intense radiation and ongoing chemotherapy treatments, Ms Boyd is raising awareness about the deadly disease in a bid to help not only herself but others.

“We need to spread awareness — and just try and stay positive, as hard as it is,” she said.

“We need better treatments and to find a cure.”

On March 16, Ms Boyd is organising a Walk4BrainCancer fundraiser at Lake Alexander and she is inviting Territorians to sign up for the family-friendly event.

She said while brain cancer did not have the favourable survival rate of many other cancers, it fell under the “awareness’ radar” as it was a less common cancer.

Cure Brain Cancer Foundation figures show the disease kills more kids in Australia than any other disease but survival rates have hardly changed for 30 years.

Only two in 10 people diagnosed with brain cancer will survive for five years.

For more information, or to sign up for the Walk4BrainCancer fundraiser, visit http://www.walk4braincancer.com.au/events/144/walk4braincancer-lake-alexander-2018

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