A 20-year-old woman thought she’d woken up with a hangover after a night out, but it turned out to be something much more serious.
Allison Pickard, from Newport Beach, California, revealed on social media that she’d discovered a 4cm brain tumor.
This led to the pet sitter needing to undergo surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
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The initial symptoms she felt were a throbbing headache and ‘wobbly’ vision.
Allison told Kennedy News and Media: “I thought that I was just hungover.
“My vision was really bad, it was like I was on a boat and then it [my field of vision] was spinning so fast, it was really wobbly.
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“It wasn’t just in my peripheral anymore, I knew something was wrong.”
Upon paying a visit to her doctor, she received a MRI scan.
Expecting to be told she had a vitamin deficiency or a headache condition, Allison was instead told she had a brain tumor.
This came after years of frequent headaches that she’d blamed on PMS and caffeine withdrawals.
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With no family history of cancer, she’d never considered these could be the symptoms of such a life threatening condition.
The tumor was on her occipital lobe and impacted her vision because her brain had swelled up.
A few days later, she underwent a three-hour operation in Loma Linda University Centre.
After that, she immediately began chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
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Allison’s advice to others suffering with similar symptoms would be to ‘trust your gut’.
She said: “That hangover saved my life. I definitely didn’t expect it to be cancer.
“You never think it’s going to be you, you think you have to be older or unhealthy to have health issues.”
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Many people online have taken to her social media pages to offer their support.
One person commented: "God is gonna be your side always, you're going to be okay."
Another wrote: "It's okay to be sad, mad, angry. It's okay to scream and cry. You earned every right to all those emotions, just don't give up. You will come back stronger."
Many people who had experience with cancer also weighed in with messages of support.
"You got this...I am just reaching the end of my journey. I know it's hard, but it isn't permanent," one survivor said.
Allison has accumulated more than 90,000 followers on TikTok, and has regularly kept them updated with her health.
Ben Thompson