A woman was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering a week-long migraine and “pins and needles” in her face.
Kimberley Baggley, 27, started suffering from migraines in June 2023 and was sent home from work.
She then started experiencing “pins and needles” on the left side of her face, so she went to her doctors, but they told her she needed to rest.
A week after the migraine, Kimberley’s husband Luke Baggley, 28, took their son George, six, swimming – when they returned home, Kimberley was in bed unconscious after suffering a seizure.
She was flashed blue in hospital where a CT scan and MRI scan revealed she had a brain tumour.
She had a craniotomy that removed 95% of the tumor and was told she had a grade 3 astrocytoma – a rare, aggressive and malignant brain tumour.
Kimberley underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
Kimberley, a primary school teacher, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: ‘You have a brain tumor’ are the five words that have changed our lives for the foreseeable future.
“You never think something like this will happen to you, but when it does, your whole world revolves around something you know nothing about – it’s terrifying.
“Your life stops when you are diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“There are so many unknowns ahead of you and a long process that puts other parts of your life on hold.
“It’s time for things to change, for me and everyone else living with a brain tumour. This is why the search for more effective treatments is so urgently needed
Kimberley was at work when she started suffering from migraines and returned home.
She started experiencing stabbing pains in her face, so she went to her local doctor and the A&E department about five times, but she was sent away with sedation.
Kimberley said: ‘You need to take time for yourself, go to a spa day and ‘it’s definitely not a brain tumour’ were all the things I was told that week.
“I never thought it could be, I didn’t know anything about brain tumors and I was so carefree with life that it wasn’t something I dreamed would happen.
After a week in bed, Kimberley’s husband Luke took their son George swimming – when they returned home, Kimberley was in bed unconscious after having a seizure.
Kimberley said: “I was terrified, I didn’t know what was happening.
“I never in a million years thought it would be a brain tumor – it was complete confusion.”
Kimberley was flashed blue at Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, where she had another seizure.
She was taken to the neurology ward where an MRI and CT scan revealed she had a brain tumour.
Kimberley said: “In that moment, your whole world comes crashing down.
“I know it sounds cliche, but you don’t see how things are going to get better – it’s scary.
“My husband was terrified because he didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Kimberley then underwent a craniotomy – a surgical procedure that involves opening the skull to access the brain – in June 2023.
The surgery was successful and the doctors were able to remove 95% of the tumor and send it for a biopsy.
The biopsy revealed Kimberley had a grade 3 astrocytoma – a rare, aggressive and malignant brain tumour.
Kimberley said: “I remember my consultant saying it wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best tumor to have and that put me at ease.
“I was quite naive when I was first diagnosed as I am such a positive person and always try to make the best of a situation.
“I thought I would do the operation and that would be it.”
A month after her first operation, she had an infection which meant she had to have further surgery and part of her skull removed.
Since then she has also battled sepsis, which delayed the start of her treatment.
But she has now completed 33 radiotherapy sessions and is on her 10th round of chemotherapy.
Kimberley said: “The person my diagnosis has affected the most is my husband.
“He’s had to keep going to work while trying to take care of me and our son.
“He has taken on two roles and has been mum and dad for the past year.
“My little boy had a hard time at first, one day he came out with ‘mummy you’re going to die’ which was hard to hear.
“It has affected them and my wider family, to see someone going through something so terrible must be scary for them too.”
Since her diagnosis, Kimberley crashed at Anfield Stadium to raise $9,103 for Brain Tumor Support and started a support group in Stoke-on-Trent to help other people going through a cancer diagnosis.
The Brain Tumor Charity has awarded a $292,611 Future Leaders grant to fund research that will investigate better ways to treat high-grade brain tumors like Kimberley’s using immunotherapy methods.
Simon Newman, chief scientific officer at The Brain Tumor Charity said: “High-grade brain tumors are some of the most devastating brain tumors and current treatments are not good enough.”
“We hope that by understanding the immune system and how it responds to brain tumors, we can improve immunotherapy treatment options and make the same progress in brain tumors that we’ve seen in other cancers.”
“Funding through our Future Leaders program will continue to transform the research landscape and help us accelerate a cure for this disease.
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