Woman leaves husband for school crush after brain tumour diagnosis
A woman in the UK has spoken about how her life changed after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and told she only had five years to live.
Natalie Whiteside, 45, recieved the shocking news that she had Glioblastoma six years ago - just a few weeks after giving birth to her second child, the Manchester Evening News reports.
"All I could think of was my kids, of my baby and my five-year-old at home," she told the publication.
Ms Whiteside made changes to the way she lived her life and eventually ended her marriage and connected with her high school crush.
"Ironically, as much as it's been the hardest six years of me life it's probably been the best six year of me life (sic)," she said in a video recorded for the Manchester Evening News.
Ms Whiteside was seven and a half months pregnant when she received the first sign something was wrong, suffering a seizure.
Following the diagnosis medical professionals told the mother-of-two they had to reduce the tumour by performing surgery.
Ms Whiteside recalled to the publication, "They said there’s no cure but if I got radiotherapy or chemotherapy, it might give me a few extra years."
"They said that after surgery I could die on the table, I could be fed through my stomach for the rest of my life.
"So I said ‘You’re not doing anything to me. I’ll see you in a year.’ I wanted to be a mother, I wanted to be the mum who would pick up the kids from school and I didn’t want to put my kids through me having chemotherapy."
She said prior to the diagnosis she was pushing herself too hard at work and her marriage was already in trouble. It was two years later that they decided to split up.
"You can’t get back time. It’s as simple as that."
Ms Whiteside added that she and her former husband get on better now than they ever have.
"I want my children to have a good healthy relationship with their dad," she said.
The last seizure Ms Whiteside had was two years ago.
"Every time I go to the hospital they say ‘you need to have surgery’ and I’m not saying I would completely rule it out - it just hasn’t been right up to now"
For now she is just trying to live each day to the fullest.
