Mia thanks optician for saving her life (From Knutsford Guardian)

Mia thanks optician for saving her life

11:30am Monday 15th October 2012 in News By David Morgan

A CRANAGE teenager has thanked an optician for saving her life.

Mia Brown, 13, was suffering from a ruptured cyst on her brain that was putting pressure on her optic nerve.

If it was left untreated it could have caused blindness or even brain damage.

Mia, of Big Stone Gardens, faced daily headaches and said she was told by her doctor just to go to bed earlier, drink plenty of water and keep off the laptop.

But the symptoms persisted weeks later.

Mia, who attends Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, said: “My eyes went all weird and I threw up. They felt tight and strained when I tried to open them.”

That week she had a routine appointment at Cats Opticians in Middlewich which led to emergency surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Optometrist Cathy Tripp said: “When I examined Mia and asked her about her headaches she said it was like being hit with a hammer so that sent alarm bells ringing.”

Cathy noticed swelling on Mia’s optic nerve and she was immediately sent to Leighton Hospital.

Mia’s mum Emma added: “The consultant had taken me to one side and told me the thing they would be looking for would be a brain tumour. That was distressing.”

Doctors then identified that Mia had an ‘arachnoid cyst’ which was about the size of a golf ball that had burst and had shifted her brain by about one centimetre.

“On the scan it was like I had three eyes,” said Mia, a former Lower Peover Primary School pupil.

A hole had to be drilled in her skull, and her brain membrane was cut so the fluid could be removed.

Mum-of-three Emma said: “It was frightening. I didn’t expect to go from standing in an opticians to waiting for surgery for my daughter. It happened so fast.

“Mia was so brave and happy throughout. She would be woken up in the middle of the night for observations and always thank the nurses.”

Cathy said: “If the pressure from the ruptured cyst continued she could have gone blind and had serious brain damage.”

Now Mia is back to full health but must regularly return to hospital for check-ups.

Her next scan is at Alder Hey on October 18.

She said: “I want to say to Cathy thank you for saving my life. Everyone should get their eyes checked.”