A former England soccer player was diagnosed with brain cancer after fainting when she saw a spider — and was left speaking French after surgery.
Amy Carr, 33, collapsed in her bedroom after seeing a spider before waking up surrounded by paramedics.
Doctors mistakenly told the former player the episode was wholly instigated by a phobia of the arachnid — but then she had two further incidents of blacking out while at the gym.
Amy, from Hemel Hempstead, Bedfordshire, had an MRI scan which revealed she had a golf-ball sized tumor on her brain which needed immediate surgery.
The personal trainer didn’t speak for a week after surgery — which was performed while she was awake.
And the first day she was able to speak it was only using her GCSE French which she’d learned years before.
Thankfully her English returned after a day.
At the time Amy was diagnosed, she was playing professionally for IL Sandviken in Norway after a four-year soccer scholarship in Chicago.
She is now monitored with regular scans and works as a healthy lifestyle specialist and goalkeeping coach.
During her footballing career, Amy earned 16 caps playing in goal for England u17 and u19s and also played for Chelsea, Arsenal, and Reading.
Speaking of seeing the spider, she said: “I’d never reacted that way to anything before.
“I knew I didn’t like spiders but blacking out seemed like an extreme response — I wouldn’t normally pass out just from seeing one.”
She added: “I knew the risks that came with surgery, I was warned I could die or be left with life-changing injuries. For a week after I couldn’t walk or talk.
“The first time I spoke was in response to the nurses asking me how I was.
“I replied with my GCSE grade C French of comme ci, comme ça (so-so).
“Everyone was baffled — I guess my French finally came in handy!”
“The next day I was back to speaking English.”
Her first symptoms began in 2013 when she had a seizure — after seeing a spider in her room in Hemel Hemstead.
She had two more seizures over the next two years.
Amy then had an MRI scan in February 2015 in Hemel Hemstead hospital which found the tumor — though initially the tumor was benign.
However, by July of the same year, the tumour had become malignant and Amy had an operation.
She was given a 5% chance of dying from the tumor while surgeons also believed an operation had a 45% chance of leaving her paralyzed, and a 45% chance of a complete success and full recovery.
Her surgery was performed while she was awake at London UCLH hospital — in cutting edge surgery where the patient has their body numbed but they are still conscious.
The surgery left her unable to walk and talk for eight days – and when she did eventually speak, it was in her GCSE level French.
Amy also had “brutal” radiotherapy and chemotherapy alongside extensive physiotherapy.
“When it came to radiotherapy and chemo, nothing could prepare me from its brutality,” she said.
“During the beginning, I vomited 27 times in two days. It got better but it was hard.”
The tumor impacted her coordination and Amy also says she’s noticed changes in her personality.
She said: “I’m more direct now for sure and I have to think more carefully about what I say, I also get way more tired than I used to.”
She began fitness training while going through her brutal cancer treatment — and says her dream now is to help other people going through the same thing.
Amy said: “I used to be able to kick and throw a ball from the goal to the halfway line, now I can’t.”
On October 27 Amy completed the Dublin Marathon in four hours and 28 seconds and has raised more than $2,573 for Brain Tumor Research.
Amy: “I found the lack of support after treatment, tricky to navigate. That’s the reason I took up a career supporting people during their rehab.”
Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager at Brain Tumor Research, said: “Amy’s story is a reminder that brain tumors are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age.
“Amy has shown incredible resilience, determination and generosity in not only sharing her own experience of the disease but supporting the community through her marathon fundraising efforts.”
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