‘People would call me brave, but I’m not – I just had so much to live for’
Thursday, 27 March 2025
A Liverpool nurse is sharing her story following an 11-hour surgical procedure for a benign brain tumour at the hospital she once worked at.
Jennifer Wilson, 49, was treated for a non-cancerous tumour behind her right eye after waking up one day last May with a bitten tongue, bruising on her left shoulder and episodes of déjà vu.
After visiting her GP and undergoing tests, the mum-of-three was referred to the Neurology Department at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
Upon review by a consultant neurologist in June, Jennifer was put on medication for frontal lobe seizures and was booked in for an MRI scan the following month, which discovered sphenoid wing meningioma behind her right eye – a type of non-cancerous (benign) brain tumour.
Following her diagnosis, Jennifer was booked in for neurosurgery, culminating in an overnight surgical procedure known as a pterional craniotomy, which involves removal of part of the skull.
After the surgery was completed in the early hours of 1 October, she spent two nights in the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) before being moved to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) for a day, after which she was able to be discharged to continue her recovery at home.
Jennifer, who has been in the NHS for over 24 years and now works for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said she never expected to be a patient at the hospital where she used to care for other people as a newly qualified nurse.
Recounting the experience, Jennifer, from the Stoneycroft area of Liverpool, said:
“Returning to the hospital where I worked as a newly qualified nurse was both reassuring and frightening in equal measures.
“Knowing what may need to be done was absolutely terrifying. However, knowing that the staff at The Walton Centre are specialists in their field gave both me and my family hope. People would call me brave, but I’m not – I just had so much to live for.
“The hardest part of having a benign tumour is that once the scar begins to heal, people assume you’re ok. I now advocate that ‘benign is not fine’, which raises awareness that just because a tumour isn’t cancerous doesn’t mean that it’s harmless or easy to recover from.”
Now in recovery, Jennifer – a keen paddleboarder – enjoys family walks with her husband and children alongside their two dogs, Teddy and Odie, and looks forward to getting back to paddleboarding with her family later in the year.
She said:
“I’m still in the recovery phase, and I have to remind myself of what I’ve been through whenever the fatigue or discomfort hits. I’ve had to learn to be kinder to myself and remind myself that it’s okay not to be okay at times.”
Katie Gilkes, Consultant Neurosurgeon at The Walton Centre, said:
“Benign brain tumours can become very large before patients develop symptoms from them, which can make surgery very challenging.
“Even when surgery goes as well as possible, patients rarely anticipate just how much of an impact it will have on their energy levels, and it takes a long time to get completely back to normal. I’m glad Jennifer is making a fantastic recovery.”
March is Brain Tumour Awareness Month, and you can find more information and access support here.