A daughter has spoken of how her mum was 'unrecognisable' while she was receiving treatment for her brain tumour, but has made an 'incredible' recovery.
Alex Ogden-Davis, 28, is training to run the Cardiff Half Marathon to raise money for a charity that helped her mother through difficult treatment when she was suffering with a brain tumour.
Her mum, Debbie Rawlins, 56, says she is "proud" of her daughter for taking on the challenge.
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Debbie was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour back in September 2014, and had been going to the doctor complaining of headaches before the diagnosis.
She was then sent for a CT scan, where the tumour was found. Alex said that doctors believed it had been growing for around a year.
Debbie said she was "very shocked" to receive the diagnosis.
"When they eventually removed it in 2015, it was about the size of a golf ball," Alex told WalesOnline.
Prior to the operation, Debbie said she had to take steroids to shrink the tumour before surgery, which made her "puff up all over."
"Steroids is a nasty treatment, and that's when the puffiness came in and all this weight gain, and the real fatigue and illness. That was really hard to see," Alex said.
"When someone is being treated for something you expect them to get better, you don't expect to see them getting worse."
On her GoFundMe page, Alex, originally from Yatton, said that when one of her oldest friends was working in Superdrug at the time she was serving a lady at the till who "looked unwell." But it wasn't until the lady addressed her by her name that Alex's friend realised it was Debbie.
"She's very friendly with my mum and knows her very well from coming around my house, so she's always been quite close with my mum" Alex said.
"It's someone she would recognise anywhere. She knew about the diagnosis and what was going on, but hadn't been around the house for a few weeks."
Debbie, who had not yet decided to take sick leave, had gone into Superdrug during her break at gone to the till.
"[My friend] had seen this woman and didn't think much of it, just didn't think she looked well, and then suddenly she said hi and [my friend] went 'Oh my god, Debs, that's you.'
"As soon as my mum left, [my friend] just burst into tears and had to go away and sit out the back for a while, because she was in such shock. It was a really drastic change. Someone who had known [my mum] for 10 years just didn't recognise her."
Debbie said: "I didn't know she didn't recognise me. We were chatting, and it wasn't until Alex said that [her friend] didn't recognise me... I was very, very, very sad.
"The steroids just bloated me completely, and then, with the operation, your head swells."
Debbie was told that there was a 50-50 chance as to whether or not the operation would be successful.
"I went to see her in the ITU straight afterwards and it was bizarre - seeing your mum covered in wires and tubes," Alex said.
Alex, who moved to Cardiff in 2018, said it took "many months" for her mum to recover after the surgery.
"She couldn't walk properly, she had bad problems with her balance and had to walk with a stick for a while. We were told that there was no guarantee that that would get better," Alex said.
Doctors were also unsure whether Debbie would be able to horse ride again, something she has done since she was a child.
"We were really pleased, grateful, and shocked after she did, after a couple of months, get her energy and balance back, and she is walking, talking, singing, dancing, and going out with the horse every day," Alex said.
"She's quite incredible. It's shocking, really."
While Debbie is recovering, she has not yet got the all clear and will need to go for annual scans for another few years as part of a 10 year follow-up.
After the treatment her mum received, Alex said she was inspired to do something to raise money for a brain tumour charity.
"Ever since she's recovered, I've wanted to do something to raise money for one of the brain tumour charities and to show my appreciation for the work they do," Alex told WalesOnline.
"It's research that saved my mum's life, really."
Alex says she got into running during the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, and decided to sign up for the Cardiff Half Marathon, which she will run on March 27. She has set up a GoFundMe page for the Brain Tumour Charity here.
"I'm just hoping to raise a little bit of money to show my appreciation for all the hard work that these charities do in supporting people that are suffering, and their families and the research," she said.
"I want to dedicate it to my mum, who I think is amazing and has made a pretty miraculous recovery, which we didn't think would happen."
Debbie said that, in the early days of her diagnosis, she had used The Brain Tumour Charity.
"It's just so important to get money so they can research these things," she said.
"It's not only the research of the actual illness, it's the support given to the people and families that are going through it.
"Even though I had the support of my family, I still felt quite alone because they were so worried that I felt unable to speak to them. I was always reassuring them."
Debbie added that when she contacted the charity, who had a group in North Bristol close to where she had her operation, they were "really supportive."
She said she had found it difficult to get to meetings, as she had had to give up her driving licence for a year.
"They were so supportive, that someone came to pick me up to take me there. They were really good. It's a well worthy cause," Debbie said.
"Not only for the research, but also for the emotional support as well."
Alex, who originally had aimed to raise £350, is now at £560, and says she wants to raise "as much as she can."
"There's a list of things that can be funded, and with £500 we could do a couple of days worth of research. Who knows what a couple of days of research could uncover?" Alex said.
"It also goes towards supporting people who are currently in that situation. That's really important to me, because I know first hand what it's like. As an outsider, I know what it can do to your family, so any money I can raise to help is perfect for me."
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