Raising Awareness About Brain Tumors
- Natasha Tims, 30, had developmental issues as a child due to an undiagnosed brain tumor that made her suffer from delayed puberty. Now the Somerset, England native wants to raise awareness about symptoms so that other parents and children don’t go through what she unfortunately had to.
- Doctor’s initially diagnosed Natasha with Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (LCH), which is where your body produces too many immune system cells. However, they recently found that it was actually a germ cell tumor, which is usually fast-growing and is found near the pituitary gland, which makes a number of your body’s hormones.
- Natasha’s type of germ cell tumor in the brain is called a CNS (central nervous system) germ cell tumor. These tumors are most often found in males, but obviously also occur in females, and typically occur in patients from 10 to 19 years old.
“We all know so much about other cancer types but not this one and that needs to change,” Natasha told BBC News about her germ cell tumor, which doctors initially believed was Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (LCH), which is where your body produces too many immune system cells. “I would have been able to get help more quickly if I had known what was happening to me.”
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Natasha’s mother, Claire Gould, started questioning doctors when she noticed her daughter’s height seemed stunted at age 15.
“I kept thinking to myself – there is something wrong with my child,” she said. An endocrinologist discovered the growth in her head, that they determined they would keep an eye on it, and said it would never grow.
It kept growing.
From 2018-2022, scans showed that it still continued to grow, which is “out of character” for LCH.
Natasha’s symptoms finally worsened earlier this year, which pointed her care team in the right direction to finally find her proper diagnosis.
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“The headaches were so painful and made me feel sick,” she recalled. “I had no energy so I couldn’t go out – I stayed in bed all day and even walking to the bathroom was too much effort.”
Natasha’s treatment details are unclear, but she appears to be doing well and is determined to help advocate for others. Treatment for germ cell tumors typically involve surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
“We like to think there’s nothing wrong at all,” she added. “You never think it’s going to be you.”
Learning About Germ Cell Brain Tumors
According the National Cancer Institute, germ cells are “special types of cells that are present as the fetus (unborn baby) develops.”
These cells usually develop into unfertilized eggs in the ovaries (or sperm in the testicles for males) as the child gets older. Most germ cell tumors actually form in the ovaries or testes, but sometimes the germ cells “travel to or from other parts of the fetus as it develops and later become germ cell tumors.”
Related: What Is An Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor? How Do You Treat and Diagnosis This Cancer?
Natasha’s type of germ cell tumor in the brain is called a CNS (central nervous system) germ cell tumor. A germ cell tumor found on the spinal cord is also looped into a CNS tumor.
These tumors are most often found in males, but obviously also occur in females, and typically occur in patients from 10 to 19 years old.
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Most of the time, the cause of this type of brain tumor is unknown. Signs and symptoms depend on the size of the tumor, where it has formed, and whether or not the body makes too much of certain hormones.
Symptoms of CNS germ cell tumors (which can also be signs of another serious condition) include:
- Being very thirsty
- Making large amounts of urine that is clear or almost clear
- Frequent urination
- Bed wetting or getting up at night to urinate
- Trouble moving the eyes, trouble seeing clearly, or seeing double
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss for no known reason
- Early or late puberty
- Short stature (being shorter than normal, like Natasha’s mother initially noticed of her daughter)
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Feeling very tired
- Having problems with school work
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