19 January 2024 , 13:03
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A teacher has revealed her sister's "out of character" behaviour before she was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour.
Fiona McOwan's sibling Catriona was 'bright and bubbly' but had headaches for three years before she was diagnosed with the condition in 1989. Known to everyone as Trina, she was originally from Stirling before moving to Edinburgh to live with her dad after her diagnosis. Fiona, a yoga teacher in Fife, said her sister was acting out of sorts, would blank out and was swearing more often. Trina had been suffering from headaches for three years before she was diagnosed.
Fiona told EdinburghLive: "She was taking painkillers like they were going out of fashion, but she told the doctor she was fine because she didn’t want to make a fuss. Trina’s colleagues noticed she was having absence seizures, where she would blank out. When an MRI scan revealed she had an inoperable brain tumour, it all made sense. It explained the headaches, but also the uncharacteristic behaviour she displayed, such as swearing.”
After moving to Edinburgh, she was given steroids to reduce the swelling in her brain, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Fiona said: “ Although she lost some hair, Trina coped well with the treatment. For a while, she seemed to be much better, and we had some hope but, by 1993, things started to go downhill again. I was disconcerted by her recoveries and having hope, and then having that hope dimmed again.”
Trina died at the Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh on August 14, 1995. The yoga teacher said: “Trina was bright, bubbly, and fun to be with. She was a get-up-and-go girl who loved life, so it was devastating when we were told she had a brain tumour.
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"Research for this awful disease is woefully underfunded, so much more needs to be done. Research is vital if we’re going to find better treatments and a cure.”
Now Fiona is putting her best foot forward by taking part in 10,000 Steps a Day in February for the charity Brain Tumour Research.
In a separate case, The Mirror told how a vegetarian woman was diagnosed with a brain tumour after she kept smelling bacon. Lucy Younger, 23, also experienced regular episodes of deja vu and zoning out before finding what was causing her unusual symptoms. Doctors had originally given her antidepressants after diagnosing her with a panic disorder.
However an unsatisfied Lucy continued to push for answers and was given a CT scan, blood tests and an ultrasound after a possible case of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) was raised. Scans revealed a benign brain tumour on her frontal lobe, which had to be operated on in just a matter of weeks. It followed months of confusing symptoms that left Lucy feeling as if she was "going insane", and she stopped going on nights out when they first appeared as she thought she "must’ve been overdoing it".