Woman dismissed by her GP as an 'attention seeker' was diagnosed with brain tumour

A woman who was dismissed by her GP for being an 'attention seeker' was later diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Vikki Hindley, 41, was turned away by her doctor before she was eventually diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour.

When she was 16, Hindley was told the devastating news that she had squamous cell carcinoma which had spread to the frontal lobe of her brain.

The devastating cancer led to Hindley losing one of her eyes.

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She said: "I’d been suffering from headaches and nausea; I couldn’t study or eat and I was losing so much weight.

"I went to the GP but I was told I was ‘fine’. I went several times, and the GP told my mum I was anorexic and was attention seeking.

“I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Are you joking?’”

Hindley was living in Cornwall with her mum at the time, but during the summer holidays in 1977 she visited her nan in Manchester, during which time she was taken to see a GP.

She was then sent to Wythenshawe Hospital for a sinus wash and told medics had spotted a cancerous polyp.

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She said: "I had an MRI scan and was bluntly told I had cancer.

“I had chemotherapy at the Christie Hospital in Manchester as Mum and I had moved back there.

"I was constantly sick and everything I ate came straight back up. I went down to four stone so I needed to be put on a feeding tube.

“I also had radiotherapy which was awful. It burnt the side of my neck and the bottom half of my head.

"It also resulted in me losing my right eye and the hearing in my right ear. It was devastating.”

The cancer was also found in Hindley's glands and sinus, and she now suffers from a number of health problems, including fibromyalgia and osteoporosis.

As a result, she still has twice-yearly checkups to this day.

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Hindley is currently doing the 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge to raise money for charity Brain Tumour Research.

Hindley said: "This challenge will be hard for me, but I’m determined to do it. If I can give back just a little bit, then it’s all worth it."

Meanwhile, Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research added: “We’re really grateful to Vikki for taking on the 10,000 Steps a Day in February challenge as it’s only with the support of people like her that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours and improve the outcome for patients like her who are forced to fight this awful disease.”