Simple check that helped save Leighton woman
Margaret Ayris was diagnosed with a brain tumour
Keeping your eye out for anything irregular is usually the way to spot illness before it is too late – but for one Leighton woman it was a visit to the opticians that saved her life.
Margaret Ayris, pictured right, 52, of Richmond Road, went for a simple check-up in June of last year to Specsavers at Waterborne Walk, Leighton Buzzard, which led to the discovery and diagnosis of a brain tumour and has only been able to talk about it now after a long recovery.
Margaret said: “I am so grateful to Specsavers for noticing the irregularity in my eye test, without their thoroughness I may not have known about my illness until it was too late.”
Having originally booked an appointment because she felt the vision in her left eye had weakened, Margaret then found out there was a potentially fatal problem.
Optometrist, Tom Clark, detected high pressure at the back of her left eye and immediately referred Mrs Ayris to Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
This was where Margaret had to undergo several tests before she was finally diagnosed with a brain tumour on July 13, 2011.
This was what had been applying pressure behind her left eye, which had caused impaired vision.
Soon after Margaret had surgery at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on July 21, 2011, to remove the tennis ball-sized lump that was found on her brain, and she has been slowly recovering at home.
She added: “They really did help save my life, which is definitely something I had not associated with a visit to the optician.”
Ekta Kotecha, store director at Specsavers, Leighton Buzzard, said: “We are so pleased that we were able to spot the pressure behind Mrs Ayris’s eyes and get her to go the hospital as soon as possible.
“Thankfully they spotted the tumour early enough to save her life.”
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Saturday 18 May 2013
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