A NURSE from Blandford who almost lost the vision in her right eye due to an undiagnosed brain tumour has been walking to fundraise for The Brain Tumour Charity.

Mum-of-two Tammy Andrews, 47, from Blandford began noticing changes to her vision in February 2019.

After numerous GP visits, being seen by the acute eye team at Bournemouth Hospital and being told that she was going through perimenopause, Tammy's questions were finally answered.

An MRI scan (conducted after Tammy paid for private care) confirmed that Tammy had a meningioma brain tumour.

Tammy said: "I will never forget walking into the room. The neurologist had a photo of a brain on his screen and then he explained what had been found. For some reason, I took the news rather well, though I think that I was in shock."

Following a referral from the private doctor, Tammy was contacted by neurosurgeon Mr Hempenstall from Southampton Hospital.

He told Tammy that the tumour has crushed her optic nerve on her right eye and that it was in the process of doing the same to the left eye.

Tammy said: "The neurosurgeon said that there was a bed at Southampton Hospital and that I needed to be on it immediately. He told me 'if you don’t want to go blind then you will leave work now and come to Southampton'. Needless to say, that’s what I did."

After a seven-hour craniotomy, the majority of the tumour was successfully removed.

As she got her strength back, Tammy decided to support The Brain Tumour Charity which she first found about when she began researching meningiomas online.

Tammy said: "I knew that I had a duty to help out – I couldn’t just sit around hoping, praying and waiting for help or for a cure when I wasn’t putting any money in the pot to get that help and much-needed answers.

“I posted about my own diagnosis on Facebook only to find out that three other people in my local town also have brain tumours and others got in touch to share how they knew someone who had a brain tumour too. It just shows how many people are affected by them.

"This was the perfect time to support The Brain Tumour Charity together."

A group of women, which includes Tammy's friends, have joined together to become 'The Blandford Tumourators'.

The group completed the charity's flagship fundraising event, a virtual Twilight Walk.

Together, they have walked around 10k and they have raised £1,400.