Back to UK NewsStudent with huge brain tumour is saved by ride on a ROLLERCOASTER
Emma Bassett, from Twickenham, London, was shocked when medics said she had survived the illness because a ride at Thorpe Park in Surrey had re-distributed fluid causing pressure on her skull.
Doctors found the tumour when Miss Bassett was 12. It had grown unnoticed over almost seven years, and was so advanced it was the size of a satsuma and on the brink of killing her.
They warned the girl's devastated parents that the operation needed to save her life could leave her in a vegetative state, and she would require round-the-clock care.
But incredibly, seven years after the operation, she has made a miraculous recovery.
She had to learn how to walk, talk and even eat again - but with the support of her family, her long road to recovery is at an end, and she is looking forward to spending a summer teaching at Camp America.
Miss Bassett has now teamed up with the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, and is championing their HeadSmart campaign - which aims to raise awareness of how to spot the early signs of a brain tumour.
She is also studying to be a primary school teacher at St Mary's University.
The tumour was first diagnosed after she had spent weeks suffering bad headaches and dizziness.
Her worried mother, Gina, took her to an optician - who referred her for further eye tests at the hospital six weeks later.
But specialists at St George's Hospital, Tooting, were horrified when they realised the cause of her problems was a tumour so big it was stopping vital fluid moving around Miss Bassett's brain - leaving her with just hours to live.
They explained that she was only still alive because a rollercoaster ride she had been on the weekend before her appointment had briefly redistributed fluid on her brain, buying her a precious few extra days.
The fluid was being held in one place, building up pressure in one corner of her brain. Hanging upside down on the rollercoaster caused it to spread out, easing the pressure that could have killed her.
Doctors told Miss Bassett's devastated parents she would have to have one operation to remove the fluid and another to take out the tumour, which left her paralysed.
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