A RETIRED Bradford GP has spoken of her experience of a life-changing brain tumour to highlight the impact of her diagnosis.

Maggie Eisner, 71, from Frizinghall was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in January this year after experiencing sudden attacks of speech disturbance and seizures out of the blue in December. Until that point, she had been fit and active, enjoying Zumba,ballet, Pilates, hill walking and cross-country skiing.

A CT scan at the Bradford Royal Infirmary showed a brain tumour, while a later biopsy revealed it was an aggressive, incurable glioblastoma.

Its position in Maggie’s brain meant she could not have surgery, so had to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which finished earlier this month.

As well as being a GP all her working life, Maggie spent 13 years as a Training Programme Director of the Bradford Specialist Training Scheme for General Practice.

After retirement, she was a volunteer medico-legal report writer for Freedom from Torture, writing reports for asylum seekers who have experienced torture. She was also Chair of Trustees of Bradford Festival Choral Society.

Maggie chose to document her symptoms and hospital and healthcare experiences via bulletins her family and friends could read to follow her story.

She said: “I’ve been amazed by how many people have responded to my situation with love and concern. They include friends from many periods of my life, relatives - though I have no close family, having lost my daughter, husband and mother over the past 11 years - and many others such as former colleagues and trainees, and members of my choir. “

The bulletins include a mixture of medical information, accounts of how she is feeling and what she has been doing.

“I’ve always made the best of any situation I’ve found myself in, and this will be no different,” Maggie said.

“My aim is to deal with this phase of my life in the same way as the rest of it.”

Maggie’s bulletins outline her determination to face head-on with her diagnosis as this year continues.

“I‘m lucky to find that I look back on my life with very few regrets, knowing that on balance I’ve probably helped make the world a slightly better place than it might otherwise have been, knowing that I’ve been in the fortunate position to influence quite a lot of people,” she said.

Sarah Lindsell, CEO of The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “Raising awareness of the implications of a diagnosis and the effects of treatments, is key to our strategy of finding a cure.Maggie’s honesty and determination with her bulletins are part of this and will help so many others, over 11,400, who are diagnosed with a brain tumour every year.”

March is the UK’s Brain Tumour Awareness Month.