NEED TO KNOW
- Lisa Wootten began suffering monthly seizures that were chalked up to “issues with the nerves in my body”
- Wootten, who “always dreamt of” motherhood, was 38 weeks pregnant via IVF when she had a 35-minute-long seizure
- She underwent an emergency C-section, and doctors finally discovered the heartbreaking cause of her seizures
A new mom was given a devastating diagnosis just days after giving birth to her son via IVF.
After separating from her husband, Lisa Wootten, 37, decided to try for a baby on her own via IVF. “Being a mum was something I’d always dreamt of,” she wrote in a personal essay for Brain Tumor Research. As Wootten, who hails from the English county of Essex, explained, she began working out to be in the best possible shape for her pregnancy, and soon, she was “the healthiest I’d ever been.”
But on January 30, 2023, Wootten began to feel “unwell.” She called her mother, who arrived in time to see “the left side of my body spasm.” Tests confirmed it wasn’t a stroke, and doctors chalked her seizure up to pain from a then-undiagnosed kidney infection. “I felt disheartened. I knew my body and what I felt wasn’t right,” Wootten wrote.
Lisa Wootten was told she had a brain tumor after giving birth.
Brain Tumour Research
The next month, “my legs gave way underneath me,” and Wootten fell down a flight of stairs. From then on, at least once a month, “like clockwork,” Wootten would have a seizure lasting up to two minutes. Regular blood tests and doctor’s visits led to Wootten being told “my symptoms were likely issues with the nerves in my body and would be something I’d have to live with.”
Wootten learned to manage her seizures as she continued with her life, meeting a new partner, Ollie, and getting pregnant via IVF in February 2024. Then, at 38 weeks in late September, Wootten had back-to-back seizures. She woke up in the hospital and “had no idea what had happened or how I got there. Doctors told me I’d had a tonic-clonic seizure which had lasted 35 minutes.”
Also known as a grand mal seizure, the Mayo Clinic explains, a tonic-clonic seizure is generally caused by epilepsy, causing a loss of consciousness and violence muscle contractions.
Wootten’s son, Noah, was delivered two weeks early via an emergency Caesarian section, during which Wootten began to have another seizure, which doctors were able to stop with medication.
“The moment they placed my beautiful healthy baby on my chest was the most surreal moment of my life. He wasn’t meant to be here for another two weeks and a moment I’d dreamt of for so long was unfolding in a manic and unplanned way,” Wootten writes of her son.
Lisa Wootten with her son, Noah.
Brain Tumour Research
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But the seizures didn’t stop — and finally, Wootten was given a brain scan that showed the heartbreaking diagnosis: She had a 5cm tumor pressing on her brain. Still, “I remained positive, assuming it would be cut out of me and I’d carry on as normal.”
But Wootten was hospitalized for nearly three weeks, keeping her from breastfeeding. She remained hospitalized until December, when she finally underwent surgery on the tumor, which was a meningioma, a mass that grows out of the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
“The doctor told me if I was going to get any kind of brain tumor, this one is the best one in terms of available treatment options,” she writes. Now, after surgery, “I still live with about 5% of the mass. Its large size compressed my brain and I have epilepsy as a result. This means I’ll be on anti-seizure medication for the rest of my life which I’m getting used to.” Her medical crisis also ”delayed how I bonded with Noah,” as Wootten wasn’t allowed to be alone with her son for months, because “I was susceptible to seizures.”
Lisa Wootten with her son Noah.
Brain Tumour Research
But now, Wootten is looking forward, she writes: “Even though I have been left with mental and physical impacts, I’m grateful every day that my little, beautiful boy is safe and healthy.”
She’s sharing her journey on Instagram, and taking part in charity events — like the upcoming 99 Miles in November walk — to raise money for brain tumor research.
As Wootten writes, “Having Noah has kept me going, and I’ve stayed emotionally strong because I want to be there to see all his firsts — and so far, I have. He’s recently taken his first steps which was a joy to witness and I can’t wait to watch him grow up.”
