A young mum would have died if she had taken doctors’ advice and not not gone to hospital – because her headaches were actually a massive cyst on her BRAIN.
Sharnie Ludlam, 22, had to have a pipe put into her skull to drain the excess fluid on her brain – though a BONE FLAP.
The mum-of-one was turned away by doctors three times before she decided to call herself an ambulance – and when they turned her away, she took herself to A&E.
Sharnie, from Lancing, West Sussex, was taken for a scan on her brain which revealed a large colloid cyst on the front of her brain and was rushed to St George’s hospital in London.
The cyst contained gelatinous material and can result in a life-threatening brain hernia – which means her brain is squashed against the skull by high pressure.
She said: “The whole thing was so scary, I didn’t know what to, I just knew that something was very wrong with me.
“I thought I was going to die, and even the doctors told me I would only have lived another two weeks if I didn’t do anything about it.”
The mum then had an eight-hour surgery where the cyst was removed from her brain.
Surgeons entered her brain by removing part of her skull, known as the brain flap.
She was sent home three days after her procedure, but the wound began leaking, and she was forced to go back to hospital – where medics discovered her flap had been filled with a lump of fluid.
Sharnie, a barmaid, said: “It’s been an absolute nightmare.
“When the fluid filled my head it looked like I had a massive egg on my forehead.
“I went back to hospital again because the bone flap got infected.
“I woke up one morning and my face and eyes were all swollen.”
Doctors removed the bone flap, leaving a hole in Sharnie’s skull.
She said: “I have a bit of my skull missing, a bit of my head is just brain and there’s just a big dent in my head.”
Her partner Rhys Scott, 23, has had to support Sharnie and their 2-year-old daughter Shinade.
Sharnie said: “Ever since October I haven’t been able to work.
“My partner has had to look after us, he’s doing everything.
“It’s been one hell of a journey.”
