A MUM has spoken out about the time she thought she was going to die after discovering she had a 20-year-old tumour inside her.
Tracy Hampton, from Evesham, said she noticed her nose grow twice the size and her feet go up by two sizes, but she had put her symptoms down to ageing.
The 47-year-old had been struggling with headaches and fatigue since she was in her late teens and was diagnosed with a host of medical issues.
It was an estimated 2.8cm tumour.
The mum of two said: "My nose was huge. My feet were a size nine in the end and a size seven before.
"My wedding ring didn't fit – I couldn't get it past my knuckle.
"I remember saying, 'am I going to die?' "
She had a five-hour operation in March 2017 – but doctors were unable to remove it all the tumour as it was wrapped around an artery.
They removed half of it and Tracy was then put on radiotherapy in January 2018 to freeze the remaining mass and halt the growth.
"It's life-threatening. If I have a sickness bug, I have to go to the hospital. My body does not produce steroids to fight the bug.
"The tumour has destroyed the pituitary gland. That's what I live with daily."
She takes 32 tablets a day and has hormone injections every day.
Her nose had gone back down, and her feet had shrunk to a size eight.
She added: "The bone growth will never change. I'll never get my wedding ring on again. But I've accepted it."
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