The mother of Laura Nuttall has opened up about the moment their family was told she had just a year to live.
Heartbreaking Revelation on BBC Breakfast
A grieving mother has opened up about the moment her daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer. Nicola Nuttall lost her daughter Laura to cancer at the age of 23 three years ago, after she was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme following a routine eye test in 2018.
In the months following Laura's devastating death, Nicola has been campaigning for more research into brain cancer. Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, June 16, Nicola reflected on the work she has done with Brain Cancer Justice, as the campaign has now been discussed in Parliament, after an e-petition received more than 100,000 signatures.
A Mother's Plea for Action
“It's just devastating,” Laura began, speaking on behalf of the people whose lives have “disintegrated” after being diagnosed after fighting for the debate to reach Parliament. “It has to be just the start, it's all well to hear the words of sympathy and condolence, but we need action,” she urged.
Speaking to presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay, Nicola opened up about her daughter Laura and their family's devastating loss. She explained: “Laura was in her first term at university, perfectly well, she had just run her first marathon and was loving living in London. Things were just about to get going for her and she had some headaches, which I didn't really recognise as anything particularly unusual - I have migraines, and these things happen, don't they. But then she went for an eye test because she joined the Royal Navy University unit and they detected swelling behind her eyes. Within days she was actually really very poorly so we brought her home from London, she had surgery. And I couldn't believe I sat there and was told that my daughter had a year to live. How can you go to being 18 in your first term at university to 12 months to live? It horrified me that there were no other alternatives.”
Campaigning for Change
She went on: “There was just a dismissive attitude to the other options that were available so we raised funds and took Laura out to Germany every six weeks. We had wonderful help from our community and from Peter Kay who put shows on for us and Laura just got into the habit of going out to Germany and she lived for four-and-a-half years and went back to university in that time. So something that we did worked, but because that's not in a trial environment we'll never know what worked but something did. There are treatments outside of the NHS that work, but we're not offering them.”
Nicola is continuing to campaign for more research and advancements in brain cancer research in the UK, heartbreakingly adding: “I know so many angel mums who have lost their children. We were lucky that we got Laura for 23 years but so many of those had four or five years with their children, and that's heartbreaking.”
BBC Breakfast airs daily from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.
