By Lynette Horsburgh
Copyright bbc
She said: “Just before my fourth birthday apparently I started walking with an unusual gait. I was staggering and walking into things.”
As well as major surgery and radiotherapy, she faced years of hormone medication to prevent premature puberty, a common complication of treatment for childhood brain tumours near the pituitary gland, which controls hormones.
“Survival rates in the 90s weren’t fantastic. I don’t know anyone else like me. Nobody knew about the issues around side effects at the time.”
She said she does not remember a lot from back then but “sometimes get flashbacks”.
“Smells trigger memories for me and sometimes I’ll just burst into tears,” said Mrs Watson-Wood, who married husband, Matt, in 2021.
She said there had been “dark times”, such as leaving nursing six years ago “because my body just wasn’t able to do it”.
She said she was inspired to train as a nurse by the amazing care she had received during her treatment.
