Brain tumour survivor shaves head to raise awareness

Clare Danswan shaved her hair off to raise awareness about brain tumours

A woman whose childhood epilepsy was caused by a brain tumour has shaved her head to raise awareness of the disease.

Clare Danswan, 37, from Swindon, spent three years going back and forth to the doctors before it was discovered what was causing her seizures.

It was removed when she was 13 and she has enjoyed a "full life" since.

She has recently shaved her head to raise awareness about the disease and the 16,000 people diagnosed with it every year.

Speaking after the shave on Saturday, the warehouse worker and part-time guitar teacher said: "It was nerve-racking when I heard the buzz of the clippers but as soon as the first strip was taken off I felt OK.

"I've always wanted to do something to help raise awareness and always thought about shaving my head.

"It's taken a while to build the confidence to do something and now felt like the right timing."

She said the build up to the event was "nerve-racking" but she was OK when she heard the shaver's buzz

She was diagnosed with a dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour (DNET) when she was 11 after she suffered a number of seizures that were put down to petit mal epilepsy.

When she was 13, doctors discovered a low-grade tumour in her brain and she was told there was a "small chance it could turn into something more aggressive".

It was later successfully removed and she has lived a "normal and full life" ever since.

She still felt a duty to complete a fundraising challenge "as not everyone will have this happy ending" and to "show support for those currently undergoing treatment and diagnosis".

Clare Danswan spent years going to doctors as a child before they discovered her epilepsy was being caused by a brain tumour

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet historically, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease, according to charity Brain Tumour Research.

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Mel Tiley, its community development manager, said the cancer "can affect anyone at any age and one in three people knows someone affected by a brain tumour".

"Clare's fundraising challenge has helped put brain tumours in front of people to help us get further in sharing the work we are doing to get more funding so we have more stories like Clare's," she added.