Doncaster mum in terminal brain tumour diagnosis after colleagues heard her slurring on Zoom call

Mother-of-three Tina Cranshaw, 51, was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour after colleagues noticed her slurring her words on a Zoom call.

Shocked workmates called an ambulance after they noticed her face was drooping during the online meeting.

And in a shock double blow, her step-daughter Daisy, 16, was also diagnosed with a brain tumour a year later.

Tina was struck down with a debilitating headache and thought she could smell gas during the Zoom video call.

Doctors originally thought she'd suffered a stroke, but tests revealed she had a terminal brain tumour the size of a golf ball and was given just 12 months to live.

Daisy said Tina, who works for a charity, was on an online video meeting at home in Doncaster when colleagues first realised something was wrong.

She said: "During the meeting, my step mum had the worst headache, and she could smell gas.

“She started slurring her words and her face drooped, so her colleagues called an ambulance."

Tina, also mum to Theo, nine, Imogen, 28, and Abbie, 31, was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

Doctors initally thought she had suffered a stroke, but a CT scan revealed a shadow on her brain.

Tina was then sent to Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield for a further MRI scan, with doctors confirming there that she had a brain tumour.

Daisy said: “It was horrible. I was doing my mock GCSEs, so it was a really stressful time.

"I was so worried, I kept thinking: ‘This may be the last time I see my step mum’.”

On October 2, 2020, Tina underwent an operation to remove the tumour, which was the size of a golf ball.

But she given the devastating diagnosis that she only had between six and 12 months to live.

Daisy, of Middlesbrough, said her symptoms had started in February of the same year.

Her GP put her headaches down to stress and when she went to A&E, medics had told her she had a migraine.

It was only during a face-to-face appointment with her GP in September 2021 that she told him she had a blind spot on the left side of her eye.

On December 9, she had an emergency MRI scan which revealed a mass on her brain.

She was then referred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, where her tumour was confirmed.

Luckily for Daisy, her tumour is non-life-threatening, but she said the news was still hard to take for the family.

She added: “It was the worst thing to hear, especially after seeing what my step-mum has gone through.

“Dad is gradually losing his wife, and I thought that he could also be losing me. It was horrible.

“I need to have scans every three months, but I’ve been told it’s not life-threatening and they don’t need to operate yet.”

Daisy is walking 10,000 steps every day this month to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.

She said: “There is such a lack of research into this devastating disease and more needs to be done.

“My step mum is my inspiration in doing this as she always makes me persevere in everything I do.”