Twiggs County woman encourages eye check-ups after doctor discovers brain tumor
"My doctor is almost in tears," she said. "And he tells me, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s a brain tumor and I'm sorry.'
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Twiggs County woman whose visit to an eye doctor led to the discovery of a brain tumor is sharing her story to encourage people to schedule annual eye exams.
Danville resident Gayle Sapp says she was suffering severe headaches in early 2012, so she decided to visit her family doctor.
“They told me my blood pressure was up, and they gave me blood pressure medication,” she said. “Around September, I started seeing little spots, and I thought, everything I read said detached retina, so I’m scared this is a detached retina; I need to go to the eye doctor. So I went to my eye doctor in the very first of October, and he did a real invasive, exclusive, whatever, eye exam, and told me that my spinal fluid was up, and he could tell that it was high based on my eyes.”
Optometrist Dr. Mark Bryant says he knew from first glance something was off.
“There’s particular things that you look for in the eyes that will tip you off to things like that, and as I looked, I knew that it was not normal, and I knew from the symptoms that she had and everything that was going on, this was something that needed to be addressed very quickly.”
After her visit to her optometrist, Sapp says she was instructed to have an M.R.I. After the exam, she received unthinkable news.
“My doctor is almost in tears,” she said. “And he tells me, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s a brain tumor and I’m sorry.’ And so, I went, ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘It’s a brain tumor, and it’s shifted your brain like 5/8—almost like a half an inch to the side.’ He said, ‘And it could cause you to have a stroke.’
Sapp says she was then informed to be back at the hospital for surgery the following Friday.
“It was a 12-hour surgery,” she said. “Had to be there at five in the morning. They told me before surgery I may have to have physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Thankfully, none of that. When I came out of surgery, they told me I called everybody by their nicknames, knew the Verizon password for them, so they kept me in the hospital until Monday, sent me home on medication.”
Snapp says without Dr. Bryant, she doesn’t know where she would be.
“If I hadn’t just decided, ‘OK, this is something with my eyes, and I really need to have it looked at,’ and he didn’t brush it off as, ‘No, you’re fine,’ he took the time to look at everything, took pictures—which is not fun when your eyes are dilated—but took pictures and everything and made sure to get me in with somebody to make sure that everything’s OK.”
Dr. Bryant says Sapp’s story should inspire more people to have yearly eye exams.
“Everything from glaucoma, cataracts—which are operable—but things like that can be hiding, and you really need to have those things checked out, and in Gayle’s case, we found a tumor that potentially saved her life.”
Gayle has now been tumor free for thirteen years.
The Georgia Optometric Association’s board secretary, Dr. Stephen Summerow, honored her this week at a ceremony at Eyesight Associates in Macon. To connect with a doctor of optometry, visit www.GOAeyes.com.
