A mum diagnosed with a brain tumour at 34 weeks pregnant is making a heartbreaking ‘memory box’ for her nine-month-old son – in case she’s not around to see him grow up.
Bethany Wright, 26, has always struggled with headaches but in March 2024 the pain got so severe she went to hospital. She was 34 weeks pregnant at the time and worried she might have pre-eclampsia – a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure – but a CT scan instead showed a mass on her brain.
A further MRI scan confirmed Bethany had a 6cm brain tumour and doctors explained she would need an operation to remove it.
But she was told she couldn’t have the procedure while pregnant. After giving birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28, weighing 5lbs 10oz at 2.35am, Bethany underwent surgery to remove the tumour in August 2024.
Doctors were able to remove 85 per cent of the tumour and sent it for a biopsy that confirmed that Bethany had a grade 3 astrocytoma – a fast-growing, aggressive tumour in the central nervous system. After her surgery, Bethany underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and she is now undergoing chemotherapy.
Bethany said she feels “robbed” of motherhood and said she has started making a memory box for Alfie – fearing she won’t be around to see him grow up. Bethany, a community nurse, from Glasgow, said: “When they told me it was grade 3, I didn’t how to process it – I was wondering if I would have a shorter life span.
“I had just had a newborn son, I was trying to work out the future. My main thought was that I was not going to be able to be there for my son growing up which is heartbreaking. I am 26, I am still young.”
After experiencing severe headaches in March 2024, Bethany went to Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, as she worried she had pre-eclampsia. Doctors took her for a CT scan which showed a mass on her brain. Bethany said: “I told the hospital how was experiencing severe headaches and my blood pressure was high.
“They then did a CT scan as they thought I might have a clot in my brain and then someone from neurology came in and told me they spotted a mass on my brain.” Bethany was taken for an MRI scan which confirmed she had a brain tumour but, because she was 34 weeks pregnant, doctors said she’d have to go full-term before they operated.
Bethany gave birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28, 2024, at Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. She said: “It was such a weird time because I felt as if I had all the exciting moments of the end of the pregnancy taken away from me. I felt like there was a negative energy around the pregnancy, nobody was able to focus on the fact I was having my first child. Everyone was just so upset.”
Bethany then underwent surgery on August 19, 2024, at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to remove the tumour. Doctors were able to remove 85 per cent of it but were unable to get the remaining 15 per cent due to its location on the right frontal lobe.
Bethany said: “After the operation, the tumour was sent for a biopsy. The results came back and said I had a grade three astrocytoma – I was devastated. I was told I could have three years to 10 years to live – it was hard to get my head around.”
In September 2024, Bethany started 33 rounds of radiotherapy and is currently undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy. Bethany said: “I struggled with chemo, I was vomiting a lot, I wasn’t able to eat and I couldn’t keep anything down. I felt like I wasn’t able to do day-to-day activities which I struggled with as a new mum.
“It has been hard, I don’t think I could have done it without my partner, Cameron, 28, and my mum, Lorraine, 62, who moved in with us – so I can put my health first.”
Bethany has started a memory box, which she plans to fill with letters and a voice recording for her son Alfie to listen to. She said: “It has been super tricky, I feel like I have missed out on a lot as a mum, a lot of first-time mums go to classes with their babies and meet other mums.
“They are having the best time and I am not able to have that. If I think too deeply into leaving Alfie behind it makes me really upset so when I am with him I try to block it out of my mind. I have a memory box where I can write letters, there is a voice recorder in there too.
“I have started putting things into it but that in itself is a hard thing to do.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond.Sign up to our daily newsletter.