A RENFREWSHIRE mum with an inoperable brain tumour credits her optician for saving her life after spotting symptoms during a routine check-up.

Jane Adam had suffered from increasingly severe eye spasms for around two years but, in the grip of the Covid pandemic, hadn’t been to her GP about it.

However, the 46-year-old Kilmacolm woman did visit an optician in Paris, where she was living at the time, who noticed the spasms during a routine eye examination in September.

Jane was referred for an MRI scan when she returned to the UK and, in November, was diagnosed with a 3cm low-grade meningioma on her brain stem.

The tumour was lying on the optical nerve and had wrapped itself around the carotid artery, significantly increasing the chances of her having a stroke.

Mum-of-three Jane said: “The eye spasms had been happening on and off for the last two years. My eye had also gradually begun to close.

“My husband and children had commented on it when they saw me in photos but we just assumed that I was tired or maybe it had been caused by the flash.

“I am very grateful to my optician, as I honestly think that she saved my life.”

In the months leading up to Jane’s diagnosis, she had been feeling tired and more irritable than usual – classic symptoms of a brain tumour in adults.

The location of her tumour makes it inoperable, due to the risk of causing significant damage, so her only option is to have gamma knife radiotherapy to shrink it.

That treatment is now getting underway and she will have scans every six months to monitor the progress.

Jane said talking things through with her loved ones has helped her come to terms with her diagnosis and the impact it will continue to have on her life.

“My family have all been amazingly supportive,” she added. “My husband simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing when I told him. My brother was really shocked and my uncle, who I am very close to, was very upset.

“My mother was the last person I told, as I wanted to protect her from the harsh reality of it.”

Jane has also joined online support groups through The Brain Tumour Charity and is raising money for the worthy cause, with a running challenge in the pipeline.

She said: “I often feel like my hands are tied because no operation can remove my tumour. I can’t do anything about it and I feel powerless. This is scary, frustrating and it also occasionally makes me angry too.

“It’s hard not to think ‘why me’ as well. My diagnosis is a major life change and such a big blow to the system.

“I hope and pray that, one day in the future, a treatment option will be found so that my tumour can be removed, as I know that neurosurgeons are lifesavers.”