A new mum suffering migraines two weeks after giving birth has revealed how she dismissed them – before doctors found a tumour on her brain.
Susan Ash had just welcomed daughter Julia when she started seeing bright lights flashing in her vision – something she chalked down to ocular migraines.
The 25-year-old assumed it was hormonal, given she had just given birth, but her doctor referred her to the neurology department for tests.
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Before she was examined, while taking part in a family football match, Susan became unable to move and started having a seizure.
She was rushed to hospital where doctors made a terrifying discovery: there was a tumour growing on her brain.
“I was paralysed with fear,” the content strategist from New Hampshire, US, told Need To Know.
“At that point, I knew I had a brain tumour and epilepsy, but had no actual answers on what type it was and what the treatment would be.
“I was terrified that my daughter might grow up without a mum.
“Motherhood had opened my heart in ways I didn’t know was possible, and I had so much to live for.
“I was 24 and death seemed so far off – until I was standing face to face with it.”
Susan had suffered from migraines throughout childhood, but after welcoming Julia in July 2024, the symptoms became more debilitating.
She said: “On my right side, I would see bright flashing lights that often moved in a circular motion, which would last a couple of minutes.
“Then, once that subsided, my peripheral vision would go blurry.
“I had a history of migraines and had ocular migraines when I was 11 or so, except when I experienced them when I was a child I would get a headache after the aura.
“But this time, I wasn’t getting a headache afterward.
“In retrospect, as a new parent, I wasn’t connecting the dots and truthfully wasn’t concerned with this – I assumed it was stress.
“When I went back to work seven weeks postpartum, the duration and frequency of these episodes was increasing.
“Without knowing it, I was experiencing up to 30 partial seizures a day, some lasting up to five minutes.”
She was referred to neurology, but after taking magnesium supplements, she found the migraines were becoming fewer and far between, so she postponed her appointment.
But in October that year, the issue returned with a vengeance while Susan took part in a parent-student football match with her little brother, stepping in for their parents.
Her vision started to blur, and she sat down – only to find that she then couldn’t move at all.
Susan woke up in an ambulance with an IV in her arm.
She said: “I felt like I had been hit by a truck.
“My body ached, I felt nauseous and couldn’t remember anything.
“I was so confused.”
When she arrived at the hospital, a CT scan found the true cause.
Susan said: “I cried hysterically while holding my three-and-a-half-month-old baby, praying she wouldn’t have to grow up without a mum.”
She underwent multiple MRIs to track the growth of the tumour, and doctors discovered the best-case scenario, which was that the tumour was slow-growing.
Susan has been using anti-seizure medication while doctors debated the best course of action going forward – with some arguing the tumour should be removed, and others not wanting to risk her vision for what appeared to be a small, stable tumour.
The mum has decided to go ahead with the surgery once her seizures are under control with the medicine, which takes time to adapt to.
Only once the tumour is removed will doctors understand what exactly they have been dealing with.
She added: “Although there is a chance I will lose the vision in my right eye, it is a small price to pay to be alive.”
Eight months after giving birth, the young mum’s life has been massively impacted, including not being able to work or drive, leaving her under financial stress as she navigates motherhood.
Susan has now made it her mission to connect with other people going through similar health battles online and raise awareness of the early symptoms preceding her diagnosis.
She said: “While being diagnosed with a brain tumour three months postpartum is pretty specific, I connect with a lot of people just from sharing how I am feeling.
“Fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, grief, gratitude, a positive outlook, happiness in the little moment, pride – all of these things, we, as humans feel.
“Whether someone is gravitating towards my videos for the motherhood side, the medical side or the mental health side, my ultimate goal is for others to not feel alone.”
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