A TRAGIC young Scot discovered while pregnant she had a brain tumour – and was told her condition was terminal a month after giving birth.
Tyla Livingstone received the devastating news that she will not live to see her son’s fifth birthday and could be dead in as little as two years.
The 21-year-old from Lochgelly, Fife, bravely battled through her pregnancy and gave birth to her son, Preston, on January 12.
Within days, Tyla was back in hospital for five hours of surgery to remove the tumour from her brain.
Devastatingly, biopsy results revealed that the Scot had a grade four glioblastoma that is certain to return and claim her life.
Doctors have now given Tyla a life expectancy of between two and five years but the Scot and her family are hoping that natural treatments such as cannabidiol -CBD oil – might help.
Tyla said today: “The whole thing has been salt and sweet. I had my son around the same time this happened.
“I feel numb. It doesn’t seem real. It’s like it’s two different lives.”
Tyla collapsed in November last year after getting out of the bath and taking a seizure on the floor.
She was rushed to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy where she was given an MRI scan revealing a small growth.
Doctors later told the mum-to-be that the growth was cancerous. Specialists at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh monitored Tyla until she gave birth.
Tyla today recalled the first indiction of the tragedy to come.
She said: “I had been getting stomach pains so I decided to take a bath but when I was in it my arm started feeling funny and began seizing up.
“I managed to get out and I couldn’t breathe. I passed out and woke up with my gran on the phone to an ambulance.
“My blood pressure was high because I was in panic mode so they took me into hospital and wanted to test me for preeclampsia. There was no sign of that.
“They then did an MRI scan. I was lucky I was pregnant or they wouldn’t have done the scan they said. They found something at the front left of my brain.
“At first they said it was a small growth and might be fine then they told me it was a cancerous growth.”
She added: “We were monitored and scans showed it wasn’t aggressive and wasn’t growing. I started having sweeps around three weeks before my son was born, which helps bring on the birth.
“At 39 weeks I had Preston and it was a traumatic birth. His heart stopped six times and they had to finally get him out with forceps.
“From the time I had Preston, the cancer grew dramatically.”
Tyla hopes her mother, Leah Livingstone, will be able to take over parental rights over Preston when she is no longer around.
Leah, 41, has since set up a Crowdfunding page for her daughter to cover any costs for CBD oil or further treatment her daughter might need.
Glioblastoma is the most common high grade (cancerous) primary brain tumour in adults.
They are “diffuse” meaning they have threadlike tendrils that extend into other parts of the brain making it difficult to remove it all.
Unfortunately glioblastomas are aggressive tumours and often appear resistant to treatment.
“I’ve read stories about CBD oil so I’m going to start using that but have to start on a low dosage and build it up as it can be strong,” said Tyla.
“I don’t think it’s really sunk properly. It’s more my son I think about and me not being there. I’m just living day by day.”
To donate and help Tyla, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/leah-livingstone
