It was a poignant moment for Fife flight attendant Chelley Pinchard when she finally ‘got her wings’ back.
There were times the 35-year-old from Rosyth feared she might never take to the skies again following her brain tumour diagnosis nearly two years ago.
“It was on my mind constantly,” she says.
“I have been a flight attendant with Virgin Atlantic for 11 years and I absolutely love my job.
“So I would have been devastated if I couldn’t go back to it.
Surgeons ended up operating on Chelley for six hours.
She was conscious for part of the operation, with specialists testing her ability to speak and remember in real time to ensure her speech and language wouldn’t be affected as they attempted to remove as much of the tumour as they could.
“I wasn’t able to work for a year because I had a seizure after that operation.
“But I earned my wings back after I successfully completed exams and a training course on February 23.
“When I found out I was overwhelmed because I genuinely never thought it was going to happen.
“I had to try and hold my emotions in but inside I was screaming with pure joy.”
Hot flushes and fainting spells
In February 2022 Chelley started to continually have hot flushes.
Then she passed out on two occasions – a week apart.
She explains: “I knew something wasn’t right and I had to get it checked out.”
On April 1 Chelley contacted her GP.
Her doctor referred her to the neurology department at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
“I was seen by a relief neurologist from England and he asked about my family history.
“I told him my mum had really bad epilepsy.
“He told me he thought I had epilepsy.
“But he never touched me or tested me for anything.
“He could see I was unhappy about it so he ordered an MRI.”
Brain tumour diagnosis
Chelley had the MRI at the start of July and afterwards the neurologist asked her to come to the hospital.
“At the appointment on July 7 I had a feeling something was up because there was a nurse there as well,” she says.
“But I was blissfully unaware of the horror I had walked into.
“He first showed me the MRI images of my brain which didn’t show the tumour.
“And then he got to the third or fourth one and asked me if I saw anything on it.
“I told him I saw a massive white mass – it was on the left frontal lobe.
“He didn’t use the word tumour, he called it a mass or growth.
“I was in shock for a good few seconds.
“Then one of my first questions was, is it cancer?”
Referral to a neurosurgeon
The neurologist told Chelley they didn’t have that information yet and that he was going to refer her to a neurosurgeon at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.
She continues: “I left the room and the nurse followed me out and she said I’m not supposed to do this but can I give you a cuddle? And that’s when the tears came.
“I got in the car and my sister Sarah, 37, called me.
“I told her I had a brain tumour.
“From there I rushed to her house and we just collapsed in a heap together.”
From August to October at the Royal Hospital in Edinburgh Chelley had a series of MRIs.
After they were done, her neurosurgeon told her he wanted to operate to remove as much of the tumour as possible.
Operation to remove most of the brain tumour
Chelley had the brain surgery on November 14, 2022.
Because of the position of the tumour, which was on the speech and language part of her brain and the area that moves her legs, Chelley was told she would have to be awake during the operation.
“It lasted six hours,” she says.
“They put me under to open my skull and then woke me up for the actual removal of the tumour.
“I had to be awake purely because of the location of the tumour as it lay on the speech and language part of the brain.
“There were two speech therapists in the room and they gave me ‘say what you see’ exercises.
“There were pictures of farm animals on cards and I had to name as many of them as I could.
“They kept asking me what year it was, where I was and my name too.
“They repeated those exercises the more the tumour was resected.
“During this part I kept getting distracted while watching the surgery on screen – it was just too cool!
“But then I began slowing down with my word retrieval.
“I knew what I wanted to say, I just couldn’t say it.
“That’s when the surgeon decided he had removed as much of the tumour as he possibly could without leaving me with potentially permanent speech deficits.
“I was then put back under so they could close me up.”
The surgeon then put screws in to fuse Chelley’s skull after removing part of it to perform the operation.
‘Feeling overwhelmed after operation’
After four days in high dependency in hospital Chelley had a seizure.
So she was kept in for a few more days.
“When I first saw my sister after the operation all I did was cry and she did the same.”
After the surgery, Chelley was told her speech might be affected.
“I knew exactly what I wanted to say but I struggled to get the words out and this was quite terrifying.
“I was so scared this was going to be my life, but thankfully my speech got better with time.”
Brain tumour ‘wasn’t cancerous’
When they examined Chelley’s tumour they found it wasn’t cancerous.
Her tumour is a Grade Two glioma which means it is a benign, slow-growing (low-grade) form of brain tumour.
She was also told it had been growing for more than ten years.
Her operation saw 90% of the tumour removed.
She explains: “The surgeon told me I would always have it and that it would grow back. It is just a case of when and how quickly it will grow back.
“I now go for regular scans every six months to see if there is any re-growth.”
Brain tumour changed Chelley’s perspective
Chelley credits The Brain Tumour Charity for its support, giving her information on benefits as well as offering counselling.
She is also thankful for the support of friends and family, particularly her only sibling, sister Sarah.
“My mum passed away in 2019, so while I appreciated my sister before this, I appreciate her so much more now.
“She has been my rock through this.”
As well as spending more time with Sarah and her sister’s two children Smith, 6, and Olive, 4, Chelley says she also plans to say ‘yes’ more.
Chelley says the experience has ‘completely changed’ her outlook.
“I was devastated when I was told the tumour would always be there because I want to be just Chelley – not Chelley with the brain tumour.
“But at the same time, having this has also completely changed my perspective on life.
“As cliche as it sounds, it has made me realise that you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.
“So you have to make sure you do what makes you happy.”
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