My GP said I was just an ‘attention seeker’ but an MRI scan revealed the deadly truth

A WOMAN had her eye removed after she said her GP branded her an “attention seeker”.

Vikki Hindley was just 16 when she struggled with a headache.

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Now 41, she said she was turned away by doctors before being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma that had spread to the frontal lobes of her brain.

Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer and can require extensive surgery depending on the location.

This type of cancer grows relatively slowly, and cancerous tumors can often spread to surrounding tissues if left untreated.

It can spread to the sinuses or the base of the skull or other areas of the brain, experts at Hopkins Medicine say.

Vikki said: “I had suffered from headaches and nausea; I couldn’t study or eat and lost so much weight.

“I went to the GP but was told I was fine. I went several times and the GP told my mom I was anorexic and was looking for attention.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’ I wasn’t too concerned at the time as I was young and naive, but as I got older the way I was treated made me angry.”

Vikki had been living in Cornwall with her mother at the time and had been in Manchester for the summer holidays in 1997.

She had lived with her grandmother, who took her to a local GP.

From there she was referred to Wythenshawe Hospital for tests.

Doctors performed a sinus irrigation there and discovered a cancerous polyp.

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

“They said they couldn’t operate because the squamous cell carcinoma had spread to the frontal lobe of my brain.

“I had chemotherapy at Christie Hospital in Manchester when my mum and I moved back there. It was very intense and I lost my hair.

“I was constantly sick and everything I ate came back up immediately. I went down to four kilos, so I had to put a feeding tube on it.

“I also had radiation therapy, which was terrible. It burned the side of my neck and the bottom half of my head.

“It also caused me to lose my right eye and hearing in my right ear. It was devastating. The older I got, the more I realized how miserable I was.”

Medics said the cancer was also in Vikki’s sinuses and glands.

Due to her illness, she now suffers from a range of health conditions including fibromyalgia and osteoporosis and has check-ups twice a year.

Now working with the charity Brain Tumor Research, Vikki is doing the 10,000 steps a day in February to help find a cure for the disease.

She said: “It’s so important to me because I’m still here and I’m so grateful. Research has helped me to be here. This challenge will be difficult for me, but I am determined to do it. If I can give back just a little bit, then it’s all worth it.”

Matthew Price, Community Development Manager at Brain Tumor Research, said: “We are truly grateful to Vikki for taking on the 10,000 steps a day in February challenge because it is only with the support of people like her that we can move our research forward in brain tumors and improves outcomes for patients like her who are forced to fight this terrible disease.”

Vikki has started a funding page to raise money for the charity.

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