Overview
- Katie-Jo Bartlett, 19, collapsed in a GP surgery in June 2022 after months of visual disturbances, an unsteady gait and back pain that had been attributed to exam stress.
- She was blue-lighted to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, where clinicians identified severe hydrocephalus and transferred her to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary for emergency drainage.
- Subsequent MRI and CT scans revealed a brain tumour causing the fluid build-up, which doctors determined is benign but in a location that makes removal too risky.
- Surgeons fitted a permanent shunt after multiple procedures, and she now reports persistent fatigue while undergoing MRI surveillance every eight months.
- Bartlett says doctors told her the emergency surgery likely saved her life, and The Brain Tumour Charity has used her case to encourage people to seek support and recognise warning signs.