A teen put her headaches down to dehydration during a heatwave, but they were a sign of a ruptured tumor.
Danielle Andersen, 17, had the pain for five days before she went to the A&E department in July 2025.
A consultant noticed something unusual in her eye tracking, and a CT scan revealed a slow-growing brain tumor called a dermoid cyst, a benign tumor.
She underwent a craniotomy to remove the tumor, but was left paralyzed down her left side following the surgery.
It was discovered she had a stroke during the operation when three blood vessels were cut.
She spent nearly two months in the hospital receiving physiotherapy and now, six months on, can jump and dance again.
Danielle, a student from West Wickham, London, said: “I thought it must be dehydration from the heatwave, and everyone else told me that.”
“But no matter how much water I drank, the headache wouldn’t go away. I was going to the bathroom constantly because I was drinking and drinking.”
“I was in pure agony.”
“A lot of people didn’t believe how bad it was. I kept thinking, am I making this worse than it is?”
“My gut feeling was that it wasn’t just a dehydration headache, though, and I was right.”
Danielle’s dad, Justin, 55, took her to A&E at Princess Royal University Hospital in Locksbottom on July 17, 2025, where doctors initially suspected a migraine.
But a CT scan revealed the dermoid cyst, which doctors said would have been present from birth.
Justin, a taxi driver, said: “Nobody sat us down and explained what any of it meant.
“We honestly didn’t know the seriousness of it.”
“We thought it was over. We thought it was just going to be resolved there.”
As Danielle, who has been dancing since age seven, had just secured a place at a London performing arts college, she decided to delay her surgery so she could settle into her first term.
She was referred to King’s College Hospital at Denmark Hill, and the family were told the operation carried odds of 100 to one against anything going wrong.
“I didn’t want to go in as the person with a brain tumor,” she said.
“I just wanted people to know me.”
She attended every class without missing a day and was still dancing the week before she was admitted on December 15, 2025.
When she came round from the craniotomy, surgeons noticed her left arm did not rise to remove her breathing mask. The family was told it was a “bit of weakness” that would resolve within days.
But four days later, Danielle was completely paralyzed on the entire left side of her body. Her right eye was shut, her head dropped to one side, and she could not move her arm, her leg, or her hand.
An MRI scan revealed that during the operation, three blood vessels had been cut, causing a stroke. It was three days before Christmas.
“We had been told she’d be home by the 22nd of December,” Justin said. “We didn’t leave the hospital until February 19.”
Doctors told the family they did not know whether Danielle would ever dance again, and she was unlikely to regain full use of her left hand.
“We weren’t going to accept that her dreams and her life had gone down the toilet,” Justin said.
Recovery required the brain to rebuild its neural pathways to the left side of the body, a process called neuroplasticity.
In the early weeks, family members would physically move her toe, foot, knee, and arm, repeating each movement a hundred times a day alongside NHS community physiotherapists and a private neurological physiotherapist.
“The physios said Danielle is only getting through this so quickly because her whole family is on board,” Justin said.
Six months on, Danielle has started running, jumping, and is picking up dancing again.
She dropped out of her first year to focus on her recovery and is restarting in September alongside her younger sister, Charlotte, 16, who has since secured her own place at the same college.
“My physio is just turning into dancing again,” Danielle said. “Before, people had to move my arm because I couldn’t move it. Now I’m dancing.”
The family is now fundraising through GoFundMe for intensive private neurological physiotherapy. Standard NHS stroke rehabilitation targets everyday functional recovery, but specialists say a dancer needs six hours of rehabilitation a day, far beyond what the NHS can provide.
To donate to Danielle’s fundraiser, visit her GoFundMe page.
A spokesperson for King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We were very sorry to hear that Danielle is unhappy with the care she received. We have responded to the family’s complaint, but we are also keen to meet with them to discuss their concerns further.
Skull base neurosurgery (surgery at the base of the brain) is a highly complex procedure, and as a result, it carries potential risks.
“Providing the safest and most appropriate surgical care is a balance between managing those risks and the benefits of treatment.”
“This approach is explained in detail to patients during the pre-operative stage of their care.”
“It is a vital part of the consent process and is fully documented as having occurred in Danielle’s case.”
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