Simple eye test saved my life, says tumour survivor

A MOTHER-OF-THREE who credits her optometrist with saving her life is living proof of the value in the advice: “Should have gone to Specsavers.”

Siobhan Beahan underwent emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour less than two weeks after a routine eye test at her local Specsavers in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

Ms Beahan, from Sallins, Co Kildare, was seen on May 6 last by optometrist Aengus Morrin who noticed a swelling back of her eye. “The eye is like an outpatch of the brain and one of the things we have learned is that, if there is something wrong around the brain, for example raised inter-cranial pressure, it can show up in the eye. When Siobhan said she’d been suffering from headaches and a clicking in her ears, I referred her to her GP straightaway,” he said.

Mr Morrin was worried it might be a tumour or a condition whereby a gland produces too much fluid, also extremely serious.

Siobhan’s GP referred her to the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin.

“Exactly one week after Aengus had seen me, I was back at the Eye and Ear and they were telling my something had showed up on my scan,” Siobhan said.

By Friday she was in Beaumont Hospital where her surgeon told her the tumour or “appendanoma” could “go off at any time”.

She was operated on the following Tuesday and now, more than six months later and in good health, is eternally grateful to the man she credits with saving her life.

Mr Morrin said he has seen 12 cases similar to Siobhan’s of which two were tumours. “The take home message is that people should not skip on regular eye tests.”