A courageous Scots teen who was discovered to have a mind tumour the dimensions of an orange wrote her surgeon a be aware telling him it wasn’t his fault if she died.
Beth McKenzie, from Blantyre, was taken to see her GP for exams after she started vomiting, having complications and ache in her eyes.
The 16-year-old was rushed to the emergency division on the Royal Hospital for Kids in Glasgow the place she was handed into the care of neurosurgeon Roddy O’Kane.
An eight hour operation was scheduled for June 4, 2021, however earlier than it might start, the medic was handed a be aware that Beth had written for him.
It learn: “Mr O’Kane, thanks for saving me and treating me like an grownup, telling me the reality. You’re proper, I can take it.
“Thanks for doing the whole lot you'll be able to, and if I didn’t make it in the long run, thanks for attempting. It’s not your fault. These items simply occur. From Beth.”
The operation was fortunately successful and Beth is now learning laborious for her Greater exams - simply 10 months after going underneath the knife.
Mum Clare defined how Beth’s prognosis turned the household’s world the other way up and feared that historical past might be repeating itself.
She mentioned: “My mum had a mind tumour once I was 22. It was a secondary most cancers and he or she had it eliminated. However docs couldn’t discover the first and he or she died.
“All of it got here flooding again. I used to be so anxious after they mentioned Beth had a tumour. It was powerful to listen to however you go on to autopilot. I needed to be robust for Beth.
The following day they got the excellent news that each one the tumour had been efficiently eliminated, however they needed to wait a bit longer for the results of the biopsy.
Fortunately it confirmed that Beth’s tumour was a Meningioma and was non-malignant.
The varsity woman is understandably grateful to the surgeon however admits she did concern she could not survive.
Beth mentioned: “I assumed I used to be going to die. I wrote a be aware to Roddy saying that if I did die on the working desk, it wasn’t his fault. He was attempting his greatest.
“I didn’t need him to really feel accountable. Roddy and the staff saved my life. I really like Roddy, he provides a way of hope and pleasure that you simply simply cling on to.
“Once I got here spherical the very first thing I noticed out of 1 was my mum and pa on the backside of my mattress. In a while Roddy and the anaesthetist got here to see me.
“I requested Roddy if I might header a ball but and he mentioned I couldn’t do this.”
The stellar surgeon admits that he nonetheless carries the be aware Beth wrote him round in his pockets and hails his ‘fortunate pants’ for serving to make the operation successful.
The dad-of-three mentioned: “Anaesthetic time can take an hour so I get my breakfast earlier than I begin the operation. I'm fairly conventional and superstitious.
“I all the time have a roll, sq. sausage, and a potato scone. I put on the identical fortunate socks and the identical fortunate pants – there’s holes in them however I’m not throwing them out, they’ve accomplished some cracking operations.
“And I all the time park my automotive in the identical house once I function.
“Once I received to the theatre, one of many nurses handed me a be aware. It actually makes you skip a heartbeat and brings a tear to your eye.
“It's stunning, harmless and honest; the maturity, understanding and openness of it. I nonetheless have it in my pockets.”
He added: “As a father or mother, I can empathise. I’d be precisely just like the mother and father of my sufferers as a result of it's a naturally emotional factor.
“My career is the best reward. It's a stunning factor to have the ability to do.
“There's a complete staff of people that labored with me to get Beth by that journey, anaesthetists, theatre workers, nurses, physios, MRI, radiology, pathology, porters, canteen workers - the record is infinite.
“I all the time get the thanks however I can’t do it with out them.”
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