Against all odds : my meningioma story
Fungai Bvumbwe reflects on being diagnosed with a brain tumour part-way through her occupational therapy degree and the road to graduation with a first-class honours degree , ‘ against all the odds ’.
Fungai Bvumbwe
I
n my third year as an occupational therapy student , at the end of my final 10-week placement , I was diagnosed with a brain tumour .
They told me it was planum sphenoidale meningioma . This was after gradually losing vision and struggling with migraine headaches dating back to the start of my course in September 2020 . The height of it all was complete loss of vision in my right eye during my final student placement . Initially I had taken a gap year after my first year , during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when I was seven months pregnant , couldn ’ t go through the placement and had to isolate for pregnancy risk .
I successfully had a healthy baby girl , while I had minor complications of symphysis pubis dysfunction ( SPD or girdle pain ) and nerve problems affecting my legs .
However , I was still determined to complete the placement hours owing during my gap year at six months post-partum . Nothing was going to get in
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34 OTnews January 2025