A MUM dismissed her twitching eye as “stress” – but the cause was much more sinister.
Jade-Marie Clark first began experiencing what she thought was an ear infection while pregnant with her first baby Theo Clark in March 2020.
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But after giving birth to him in September 2020, she claims her ear pain began to subside and became more manageable.
It was only when she fell pregnant for the second time in 2023, that she began experiencing headaches and a “twitchy eye”.
At the time, the 32-year-old was studying to become a nursery school teacher so put her eye flickers down to “assessment stress” and believed her headaches were hormone-induced.
But when the corner of her lips went numb at nearly three months pregnant, she booked an appointment with her GP in May 2023.
Read more on brain tumours
At the doctors, Jade-Marie was immediately sent to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland for an MRI where she received the shocking news she had a brain tumour.
But she had to wait until after giving birth to her son Rory Clark in November 2023 to have the growth removed.
Sadly, following her operation, the mum-of-two has been left with facial palsy meaning she is unable to smile or produce tears out of her right eye.
Facial palsy, also known as Bell’s palsy, is a condition that causes weakness or paralysis in the muscles on one or both sides of the face.
Upsetting footage shows Jade-Marie attempting to smile into the camera as her right eye remains unable to blink.
She is now sharing her story to inform others about her symptoms and the mental implications her facial palsy has had on her.
Jade-Marie, from Glasgow in Scotland, said: “It all started when I was pregnant with my first son.
“I started getting excruciating pains down my face and ear and I thought I had an ear infection.
“I was in tears with the pain. This started three months into my pregnancy and it didn’t stop.
“At first it was just my ear and then it went over my face and neck.
“I had the baby and the pain didn’t stop but it was nowhere near as bad as if it was while pregnant.
“Fast forward to 2023, I fell pregnant with my second baby and then I started getting headaches. I put it down to hormones.
Instantly when they said tumour, I just thought it was in my brain and I was going to die
Jade-Marie Clark
“I was at college as well to study childcare. Before I fell pregnant, several months before assessments were due my eye started twitching for long periods of time and I thought this was down to the stress of college.
“I just put it down to hormones and me being busy and the eye twitching was down to the stress of college and having a two-year-old.”
She continued: “[At the hospital], I got the scan on my head. I was told they had found something and he told me they had found a growth.
“At this point I burst into tears. Instantly when they said tumour, I just thought it was in my brain and I was going to die.
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“They said it was really rare and it was the second one he had diagnosed in 20 years. He said I was one in 100,000 people.
“I just felt like this couldn’t be happening. You always feel like this is something you hear far away but it’s not going to happen to you.
“My cheeks then went numb and over the next six months this spread to my scalp. It just felt like I had had a jab at the dentist.
“This is sick but I remember thinking I hope the tumour does grow so I can get it removed and go back to my life.”
Acoustic neuroma brain tumour
Jade-Marie was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma brain tumour in May 2023 and was told by doctors the 1.7 millimetres growth had been in her head for at least five years and in six months quickly grew to 3.1 centimetres.
According to the NHS, an acoustic neuroma is a type of non-cancerous, benign brain tumour also known as vestibular schwannoma.
This tumour grows on the nerve used for hearing and balance and symptoms often include hearing loss, persistent headaches, numbness and temporary blindness or double vision.
Sadly, two days after undergoing a 10-hour surgery to have the growth removed in April 2024, Jade-Marie developed facial palsy, which she claims has had a devastating mental impact on her self confidence and left her with single side hearing.
Jade-Marie said: “I was told that this [the brain tumour] wasn’t new and it had been there for five to 10 years because of the size of it and because it was still growing.
“[In the operation], they have left a small amount of the tumour in my brain as it was attached to a nerve and this was to try and prevent facial palsy.
I didn’t want to leave the house and I didn’t want anyone to see me. I was just so sad
Jade-Marie Clark
“For two days after surgery, I didn’t have facial palsy but then it just developed.
“My right eye does not close and I can’t smile. And because my eye doesn’t produce tears it’s in pain a lot because it’s so dry.
“I thought my face would start to move on its own but there was nothing and that’s when the self doubt started to kick in.
“As well as being anxious, I became really depressed with how I looked. I feel like I underestimated the mental impact of facial palsy.
“Of course you would never laugh at someone with it, but in my head I thought people would laugh at me.
“I didn’t want to leave the house and I didn’t want anyone to see me. I was just so sad.”
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Still no face change
It has now been nine months since her tumour removal operation and Jade-Marie says there has been no change in her face.
This month the qualified nursery school teacher is getting an eyelid weight to help temporarily close her right eye and in March will have a nerve transfer and two cross nerve graphs to hopefully bring back her smile.
She has now started sharing her journey on TikTok to help make people aware of her symptoms and connect with other people going through similar journeys with facial palsy.
Jade-Marie said: “The nerve transfer will be taken from a masseter nerve and then the nerve graph will come from each leg.
“All three of these procedures will be done at once to hopefully give me the best outcome.
“It can take up to 18 months to work but what they’re hoping for is 80 per cent of my smile back which makes me happy.
“I found my support through a Facebook group and now I’ve started sharing on TikTok about my brain tumour and so many people from around the world have messaged me.
“Giving someone something to talk to is good for people in my situation to have a support network.”
Acoustic neuroma brain tumour symptoms
AN acoustic neuroma is a type of non-cancerous (benign) brain tumour also known as a vestibular schwannoma.
Benign brain tumours are growths in the brain that usually grow slowly over many years and don’t spread to other parts of the body.
Acoustic neuromas grow on the nerve used for hearing and balance, which can cause problems such as hearing loss and unsteadiness.
Sometimes they can be serious, particularly if they become very large, but most are picked up and treated before they reach this stage.
They may not cause obvious symptoms at first, but when they do appear they can include:
- hearing loss that usually only affects one ear
- hearing sounds that come from inside the body (tinnitus)
- the sensation that you’re moving or spinning (vertigo)
A large acoustic neuroma can also sometimes cause:
- persistent headaches
- temporary blurred or double vision
- numbness, pain or weakness on 1 side of the face
- problems with limb co-ordination (ataxia) on one side of the body
- voice changes or difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
If you experience any of these symptoms, speak to your GP.
Source: NHS
