A beauty queen has been diagnosed with a brain tumour after her intense headaches and vision loss were initially blamed on her contraceptive pill.
Holly Worswick, 22, suffered from migraines, but she thought they were due to the fact she was not drinking enough water.
However, when she started suffering sporadic vision loss, she went to the doctor, who she says simply opted to change her pill.
Holly said that during a routine appointment at Specsavers in February, optometrists "saved her life" as they urged her to go to A&E immediately after noticing her right eye's optic nerve was "four times" its normal size.
Tests including CT and MRI scans revealed Holly had a benign brain tumour, which had triggered her symptoms by causing pressure and a fluid build-up behind her eyes.
The mass had been growing both underneath and over the top of her skull for a decade - and doctors said that if left untreated, it could have caused blindness and even death.
Holly underwent an eight-hour operation where medics successfully extracted the meningioma tumour by cutting away the front right quarter of her skull, scooping out the mass, and then reattaching the bone.
The trainee teacher was left with a visibly large dent in her head after surgeons were forced to operate again to remove the infected skull piece and insert a drain into her spine to remove fluid leaking from her nose and head.
A metal replacement was then fitted late last month, signalling an end to the frightening five-month "rollercoaster" that left her fearing for her life.
The woman, who represented Cheshire as Miss Cheshire International at Miss International UK 2018, is now sharing her story to urge people to attend their routine eye appointments and get checked out if they feel something is not right.
Holly, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "I was getting a lot of headaches and I always thought it was because I didn't drink enough [water], but then I started getting really bad blurred vision.
"I'd be driving and my sight would just go. I thought, 'this isn't normal', so I went to the doctors and they just thought it was to do with the pill I was on."
She added: "Luckily I was due for a check-up at Specsavers a few days later, so when they took pictures of the back of my eye they found the optic nerves were four times the size they should be.
"The optician gave me a letter and said I need to go to A&E now and get a CT and MRI scan. They told me about the mass later that day.
"The surgeon said it's been growing for 10 years. 1-2mm per year, like a ticking time bomb. So it would have just kept on growing if the opticians didn't recognise it. We even got them flowers afterwards.
"That routine check-up at Specsavers saved my life. Without them I wouldn't have found the tumour, so that shows it's important not to miss your eye appointment.
"If you keep getting headaches that are quite severe to the point where you can't do anything, you need to get that checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry."
Holly, who lives with mum Helen Bailey, 50, and stepdad Nick Bailey, 57, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, had laser eye surgery as a 21st birthday present and her appointment at Specsavers on February 13 was a regular check-up.
She went to Macclesfield General Hospital after her optical coherence tomography scan worried opticians, and her CT and MRI scans revealed a brain tumour later that day.
The Edge Hill University graduate was transferred to Salford Royal Hospital early the next morning and underwent successful surgery on February 16 before being allowed home after a week.
One month later, Holly, who had been mentally and physically recovering by watching tv and completing puzzles, felt fluid spilling from her nose and was readmitted to the hospital.
Another CT scan on March 15 revealed a skull bone infection, so the next day surgeons removed the flap and then inserted a lumbar drain at the base of her spine to remove the excess fluid on March 18.
She was then sent home with intravenous antibiotics and protective headgear used to cover the exposed wound which caused a "huge dent" in her head.
An allergic reaction to the antibiotics left her with a "hives-like" rash on her legs and neck five weeks later, but a final operation saw surgeons insert a metal plate on July 20 to cover the gap in her skull.
Holly said: "It's been a rollercoaster five months, but I feel so lucky to be here now."
She added: "The minute I got on the bed to go down for the first operation, that's the most scared I've been in my whole life. That's when it sank in and I really got upset.
"It dawned on me that I might not be alive or something might go wrong. I might have some permanent damage and I might not get the life back that I had. I could have gone blind."
Holly's final stitches were removed on August 5 and since then she has started driving again and returned to the gym.
She hopes to restart playing football next month and finish her PGCE teaching qualification, which she had to postpone while going through surgery.
Specsavers clinical services director, Giles Edmonds, said: "Cases like Holly's show how important it is for people to have regular eye examinations - and the importance of keeping on top of their appointments.
"Many people often think that a trip to the optometrist just detects changes in vision, but the reality is an eye examination can detect so much more than this, including signs of very serious health issues.
"This is why it is vital that everyone has their eyes checked, at least once every two years, regardless of whether or not they think they have a problem with their sight."
