Former England Footballer Diagnosed with Brain Tumour After Spider Incident Completes Charity Marathon

An ex-England footballer, whose brain tumour diagnosis followed a collapse triggered by seeing a spider, has completed a charity marathon. Amy Carr, a resident of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, successfully raised over £2,000 for Brain Tumour Research by participating in the Dublin Marathon this past Sunday. A 2015 MRI scan revealed a high-grade tumour, comparable in size to a golf ball, developing in her brain. Ms Carr commented, “I knew I didn’t like spiders but blacking out seemed like an extreme response.” She added, “I’d never reacted that way to anything before.” The 33-year-old recounted walking “frantic laps” in her bedroom subsequent to spotting the spider, and within an 18-month period, experienced two additional episodes of losing consciousness while at the gym. Subsequently, she underwent a craniotomy to excise the maximum possible amount of the tumour, an operation that rendered her unable to walk and speak for eight days. She stated, “The first time I spoke was in response to the nurses asking me how I was. I replied with my GCSE grade C French of comme ci, comme ca. The next day I was back to speaking English.” Following this, she underwent a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, alongside extensive physiotherapy, to restore her mobility and speech. She remarked, “Nothing could prepare me from its brutality… it got better but it was hard.” When she received her diagnosis, Ms Carr was a professional footballer for IL Sandviken in Norway. Prior to this, she resided in Chicago, USA, having secured a football scholarship. Ms Carr accumulated 16 caps as a goalkeeper for England’s under-17s and under-19s teams, and also competed for Chelsea, Arsenal, and Reading. “I used to be able to kick and throw a ball from the goal to the halfway line, now I can’t… I’m still working on my coordination,” she commented. Currently, she coaches a squad of 16 year olds at Goalkeeper Warz, located in Milton Keynes. She expressed, “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I have and the only way we can do that is by investing money into researching brain tumours.” For updates on Beds, Herts and Bucks news, follow BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external sites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.