Overview
- Gallacher was first diagnosed with a benign acoustic neuroma after sudden right‑ear hearing loss in the summer of 2021, when doctors treated her as an emergency.
- She told Vanessa Feltz on Wednesday that she had radiotherapy last year and now has an MRI scheduled that will show if the treatment has stopped or shrunk the growth.
- Clinicians say the radiotherapy’s goal is to arrest or reduce tumour growth rather than remove it, and its success is not guaranteed so the scan is key to assessing progress.
- The tumour has left Gallacher effectively deaf in her right ear and with worse tinnitus; clinicians have suggested a hearing aid but she has not adopted one and she now relies on lip‑reading in noisy settings.
- An acoustic neuroma is a benign nerve‑sheath tumour beside the hearing nerve, and the MRI outcome will guide whether care remains watchful monitoring or moves toward riskier surgery or more treatment.