46-Year-Old Man’s Routine Eye Test Results in a Golf Ball-Sized Tumor

When 46-year-old Dean Wright went to his local opticians for a routine eye test, he was expecting to receive a clean bill of health.

However, just a few days after undergoing the test, he was admitted to a hospital after they discovered a tumor, a golf ball-sized one, and had it removed near his brain.

Despite the mass size, as well as its original position, Dean said he was not feeling any devastating symptoms. Sharing his experience, Wright said, when people have that size of a tumor, they "suffer crippling headaches or blackouts, but I didn't. He added, to him, it seemed like just a normal day-specifically, a normal check-up.

Reports on his condition said Wright, who is working for Johnstone's Trade Paints, said he went to "Specsavers on Queen Street, Cardiff" back in 2018.

There, Tahira Rahman, an optometrist, checked him, thinking his optic nerve looked swollen. Rahman referred the 46-year-old for further tests at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

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More than Just a 'Sight Test'

After going through a CT scan and an MRI, Wright said a neurologist broke the news that he had a "cerebral meningioma," a benign or non-cancerous brain tumor.

After what he described as an exhausting eight-hour surgery to have the tumor removed, the patient was informed by his doctors that the tumor's size was almost the same as a golf ball's.

The doctors also said the tumor could have been "disabling or even life-threatening" if it had grown more. It is easy to assume, he shared, that a single sight test is simply to check the vision, "But it's much more than that."

On his first visit, Wright continued, he learned very fast that what he had was more than just an eye checkup or test. It was not merely choosing a pair of new eyeglasses either.

For him, said Wright, "there was a lot more at stake."

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Experiencing Losses of Consciousness

Days after his surgery, Wright shared he experienced losses of consciousness, not to mention not being able to drive. Nevertheless, he went back to work attending to light tasks.

Incidentally, Wright spoke out about his condition as part of the ongoing weeklong "Brain Tumor Awareness Week," which ends on October 31.

According to the Brain Tumor Research charity, approximately 16,000 people are being diagnosed with a brain tumor in the United Kingdom every year, and "there are estimated to be over 60,000 individuals living with brain cancer."

Rahman, the Specsavers optometrist who first checked Wright, said his story "is a case in point about why we continue to stress" the essentiality of regular eye tests. Specifically, the optometrist recommends that one gets a sight test at least once every two years.

Eye tests, the eye expert added, are "a 'must-do' and not a 'should do,'" as the eyes can frequently provide an early sign of more severe health conditions whether they've experienced any symptom of illness or not.

If people have concerns about their eye health, Rahman continued, or notice some changes in their vision, the best thing to do is seek an optician's advice the fastest possible they can.

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