Beaming Davina McCall reveals she’s got all clear from brain tumour after life-saving surgery
A BEAMING Davina McCall has revealed she’s got the all clear after receiving life-saving brain surgery.
The TV star, 57, had surgery late last year in order to remove a benign tumour, which she discovered purely by chance.
Following the operation in November, the presenter has today confirmed the happy news in a post she shared online alongside a photograph of her and her partner in the sun.
She said: “So, here it is. Our final brain surgery update. Had the final MRI this week. @brainsurgeon.uk got everything out during surgery, it’s not coming back.
“Thanks so, so much to everyone at @onewellbeck and @clevelandclinic.”
The presenter previously opened up about her experience as she attended an event at All Saints Church, Fulham to support her neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill.
She said: “I know lots of you here are on your own brain tumour journey and many of you have lost loved ones to a brain tumour.
“I lost my sister to a brain tumour in 2012 and my ex-father-in-law a year ago.”
She’s also spoken out about the terrifying experience in her Begin Again podcast where she was joined by Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett.
During the episode with the entrepreneur she said: “I felt like this thing had taken control of me.”
She added: “They said, ‘You’ve got a benign cyst in your brain…’.”
When Steven, 32, asked how Davina felt following the operation, she said: “I don’t really remember where I was… you realise that your personality is your short-term memory.”
Davina was diagnosed with a brain tumour in November last year and told fans she would have to undergo an operation to have it removed.
She broke the news to her followers in a video on Instagram, telling them: “A few months ago, I did a menopause talk for a company and they offered me a health scan in return, which I thought I was gonna ace.
“But it turned out I had a benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst which is very rare.
“Three in a million. So I slightly put my head in the sand.”
Davina said she got a second opinion, adding in the emotional clip: “I saw quite a few neurosurgeons, I got lots of opinions and I realised that I have to get it taken out.
“It’s big for the space. It fills the space. It’s 14mm wide and it needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.
“So I’m having it removed via a craniotomy.
“They go through the top of my head here and through the two halves of my brain to the middle, and get the cyst, take it out, empty it, take it out and Bob’s your uncle.”
Symptoms of a benign brain tumour
A benign brain tumour is a mass of cells that grows relatively slowly in the brain.
Benign means it in not cancerous.
Non-cancerous brain tumours tend to stay in one place and do not spread.
Some slow-growing tumours may not cause any symptoms at first.
When symptoms occur, it’s because the tumour is putting pressure on the brain and preventing a specific area of the brain from working properly.
As the tumour grows and increases pressure in the skull, you might experience:
- New, persistent headaches that are sometimes worse in the morning or when bending over or coughing
- Feeling sick all the time
- Drowsiness
- Vision problems, such as blurred or double vision, loss of part of your visual field and temporary vision loss
- Epileptic seizures that may affect the whole body, or you may just have a twitch in one area
See a GP if you develop any of these symptoms.
They’ll examine you and ask about your symptoms.
If they suspect you may have a tumour or are not sure what’s causing your symptoms, they may refer you to a brain and nerve specialist for further investigation.
Source: NHS