Teacher with brain tumour inspires school’s Wear A Hat Day fun

Brain tumour patient Kirsty Connell was diagnosed with a grade 2 oligodendroglioma in October 2021 after suffering with headaches and repeated feelings of déjà vu.

The 39-year-old, from Old Stratford, underwent an awake craniotomy and is now being monitored with three-monthly scans as part of a ‘watch and wait’ protocol.

She said: “I went to my doctor because I was getting a new pattern of headaches – I was waking up in the mornings with a dull pressure in my forehead – and I was having frequent feelings of déjà vu.

“She referred me to a neurologist who thought I was having hormone-related migraines but sent me for an MRI scan as a precaution.

“I had that whilst my husband, Liam, waited for me in the car but, after completing it, the sonographer told me I couldn’t leave. I was sent to A&E where I sat on my own waiting to see a doctor for three hours without knowing what was wrong.

“When I got taken through to a family room, I knew something wasn’t right and that’s where I was told they’d found a mass on my brain.”

The mum-of-three, whose grandmother died from a brain tumour more than two decades ago, is a supporter of the charity Brain Tumour Research.

The Redway School she works at, in Netherfield, celebrated its flagship Wear A Hat Day fundraiser for the first time last year and took part in it again today (Wednesday 27 March).

The event, which asks people to don their favourite hats, hold hat-themed events and make donations to help find a cure for brain tumours, has raised more than £2 million since being launched in 2010 and will officially take place tomorrow (Thursday 28 March).

Kirsty said: “The school celebrated it last year but, sadly, I wasn’t there to join in because I was having a brain scan, so I was really looking forward to it this year.

“We held it a day early to tie in with our end-of-term assembly and it was great to see so many children and staff wearing hats. Everyone in my department wore the same ones, brightly-coloured cowgirl hats. It was a great turnout and I can’t wait to see how much we’ve raised.”

She added: “Supporting Brain Tumour Research is important because of the shocking underinvestment in research in this area. I also want to raise awareness of how prevalent brain tumours are because they’re the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under the age of 40.”

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “With one in three people knowing someone affected by a brain tumour, Kirsty’s story is, sadly, not unique. Brain tumours kill more women under 35 than breast cancer, more men under 70 than prostate cancer and more children than leukaemia. We’re determined to change that but we can’t do it alone. We’re really grateful to Kirsty and her colleagues and pupils at The Redway School for their support. Together we will find a cure.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure. The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.

To register for Wear A Hat Day, which can be celebrated any day in March, visit www.wearahatday.org.