Mom says brain tumor made her forget she was a parent

By Megan Pocock

A woman says her brain tumor made her "forget" she was a mom - after flashing lights and rainbow-like patterns in her vision led to her diagnosis.

Clare Smerdon, 37, was diagnosed with a grade 4 astrocytoma - just weeks after her son Teddy turned 13 months.

Doctors told her the aggressive tumor was life-limiting, and Clare feared she would never get to watch Teddy grow up.

While waiting for surgery to remove the tumor she says she was "acting completely out of character" and "forgot I was a mom."

But two years on, she has defied the odds and proudly watched her son, now four, put on his uniform and walk through the gates of Barton Hill Academy for his first day of school.

Clare from Torquay, Devon, said: “When I received my diagnosis, I didn’t think I’d be alive t