Wedding planner, 50, has eyeball split open for life-saving treatment after optician spotted cancerous tumour
- Louise Jordan, 50, said that ‘something told her’ that she should visit the optician
- After an eye scan she was refereed to a doctor who told her she had eye cancer
- She had a Choroidal Melanoma and had to be treated with a radiotherapy plaque
A wedding planner had to have her eye split open to have a radiotherapy device inserted after a routine eye test revealed she had a cancerous tumour.
Louise Jordan, 50, said that ‘something inside told her’ that she should pay a visit to the optician.
The mum-of-two from Bloxwich, West Midlands thought that her eyes were ‘completely fine’, but when she spotted a letter from the optician, she booked in for a check up just to be on the safe side.
Louise Jordan, 50, from Bloxwich, West Midlands, said that ‘something inside told her’ that she should pay a visit to the optician – she later discovered she had eye cancer
After doing a full eye scan in June 2019, optometrist, Taj Showker quickly realised things weren’t as they should be.
There was a suspicious lesion on the back of Louise’s right eye and she was referred straight to the doctor at the Nuffield Hospital in Wolverhampton, for further tests.
Louise was diagnosed with a Choroidal Melanoma – a cancer affecting part of the eye – in June 2019.
Medics discovered a tumour at the back of her right eye. She was warned they needed to operate to attach a radiotherapy plaque, emitting eye – sparing low energy radiation therapy for 48 hours.
The procedure involved Louise being placed under general anaesthetic and having her eye clamped open.
The wedding planner had to have her eye split open to have a radiotherapy device inserted after an eye test revealed she had a cancerous tumour
Surgeons used a scalpel to split open her eye, go underneath her eyelid and slide a plaque with radioactive seeds on one side of it behind her eye and sewing it there – aiming the seeds at the tumour.
‘I couldn’t see what they were doing but it hurt like hell.’
Louise’s husband could only visit her in hospital for a couple of hours at a time, meaning she spent a lonely four days in bed following her procedure.
Louise did not suffer any symptoms and just had a feeling that she should get her eyes checked
She will not know until her next appointment in November if the treatment was a success.
If the radiotherapy hasn’t worked she could ‘lose her eye’.
She will have her final check up to make sure she is clear of the cancer later this year.
Louise said: ‘It was such a shock. Having no symptoms at all, you never anticipate something like this.
I’m glad I caught it in time because if not I could have gone blind.’
Louise is a keen believer that everything happens for a reason, and said that friends at work have nicknamed her ‘Positive Polly’ for remaining optimistic throughout the whole thing.
‘I was looking through a pile of mail for something and when I saw the eye test letter, something inside me told me I needed to go.:
My eyesight wasn’t any worse than when I last got it tested, but somehow I just knew I had to go.
Everything happens for a reason.’
Louise – who is mum to Jordan, 19, and Jack, 17 – said that the first thing that went through her head was that she might not be able to watch her sons grow up.
Choroidal Melanomas are rare, with five in one million people being diagnosed with them each year
She believes that although it is easy to ignore the letters and not want to spend money on appointments, going for a check up is hugely important.
She said: ‘I’m incredibly grateful for the team at Specsavers. Without them my future could look very bleak indeed.’
Choroidal Melanomas are rare, with five in one million people being diagnosed with them each year. They are symptom-less, meaning a regular trip to the optician is important.
Optomotrist Taj Showker said: ‘We encourage all of our customers to visit their optician every two years, unless they are experiencing vision issues.’