A selfie taken on vacation in New York City saved a woman's life.
While looking through her vacation snaps, Megan Troutwine, now aged 33, noticed that one of her eyes was drooping in a picture taken by a fountain close to Times Square.
She was immediately concerned that this may be a symptom linked to her recent bout of cognitive problems and trouble working out, Fox 13 reports.
She told her doctor about her concerns and was referred to a neurologist for an MRI scan, which confirmed that there was something more serious at play - she had a sizable tumor on her brain.
As she underwent 30 rounds of radiation and two surgeries to remove the non-cancerous tumor, doctors found another, more dangerous tumor known as a glioma, which is not easily treated and could potentially lead to brain damage.
She started treatment back in 2016 and these days, continues to go to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for regular check-ups. She’s now mostly healthy.
Initially a patient at Moffitt, she's now a member of staff at the facility, where she comforts patients in the same position as she was.
On her trip to New York, Troutwine took numerous selfies in front of famous landmarks such as Times Square and the Freedom Tower. But one of the pictures seriously concerned her.
She told Fox 13: "I'm like, 'oh, that's weird. That picture looks weird.' Little did I know."
Doctors managed to identify a meningioma in Troutwine’s brain just 15 minutes after she underwent an MRI scan. Doctors were aware that it was benign but it appeared to be aggressive, which means it may have been growing into nearby brain tissue.
Meningioma is one of the most common forms of brain tumors, accounting for a massive 30 percent of all of them. They start in the meninges, the outer three layers of tissue that protect the brain under the skull.
Symptoms of meningioma start slowly and include changes in vision, such as seeing double or blurring, headaches that are more severe in the morning, hearing loss or ringing in the ears, memory loss, loss of smell, seizures, weakness in the arms or legs, and trouble speaking properly.
The experience led her to experience cognitive issues, which she considered the most difficult to deal with. Also, a keen runner, she was forced to slow her pace down.
Troutwine said: "Dealing with the cognitive issues and dealing with the memory loss and stuff like that, that was probably the hardest, because I know that I'm smarter than that. I'm more capable than that. I can do more. But, it's learning how to give myself the grace in the midst, too."
