'Devastated' Scottish mother diagnosed with brain tumour at 34 weeks pregnant given just years to live

A mum diagnosed with a brain tumour while she was 34 weeks pregnant is putting together stories for her nine-month-old son to listen to - in case she is not around to see him grow up.

Bethany Wright, 26, has always struggled with headaches, but in March last year the pain got so severe she went to hospital.

Bethany Wright with partner Cameron and son Archie | Bethany Wright/ The Brain Tumour

The community nurse, from Glasgow, 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 carried out at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary instead showed a mass on her brain.

A further MRI scan confirmed Mrs Wright had a 6cm brain tumour and doctors explained she would need an operation to remove it. But she was told she could not have the procedure while pregnant.

After giving birth to her son, Alfie, on March 28, weighing 5lbs 10oz at 2.35am, Mrs Wright underwent surgery to remove the tumour in August last year.

Doctors were able to remove 85 per cent of the tumour. The mass was sent for a biopsy that confirmed Mrs Wright had a grade three astrocytoma - a fast-growing, aggressive tumour in the central nervous system.

Bethany Wright with son Archie | Bethany Wright/ The Brain Tumour

After her surgery, the mother underwent 33 sessions of radiotherapy and is now undergoing chemotherapy.

She said she felt "robbed" of motherhood and was starting making a memory box for Alfie, fearing she will not be around to see him grow up.

"When they told me it was grade three, I didn't how to process it - I was wondering if I would have a shorter lifespan,” she said. "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 heart-breaking. I am 26, I am still young."

Mrs Wright said of giving birth to her son after the diagnosis: "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."

Following surgery, Mrs Wright said she was left “devastated” at being told she had a grade three astrocytoma.

"I was told I could have three years to ten years to live - it was hard to get my head around,” she said.

In September, Mrs Wright started 33 rounds of radiotherapy and is undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy.

"I struggled with chemo, I was vomiting a lot,” she said. “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."

Mrs Wright 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."