Woman's Life Saved by Car Crash After MRI Reveals Brain Tumor

By Amanda Thomason April 13, 2019 at 11:46am

Generally, when something negative happens to us, it’s difficult to find the silver lining. With time and open-mindedness, though, we can see how some events that caused us great pain also had a providential underpinning.

Elaine Lee-Tubby is a woman who knows all about blessings in disguise. In January 2017, the then-47-year-old marketing executive from Buckfastleigh, England, was driving to work when she was struck by another vehicle, according to Daily Mail.

She survived the collision, but following the accident, Lee-Tubby was worried that she had some serious injuries because she kept experiencing major headaches.

Doctors directed her to get an MRI scan, and Lee-Tubby learned she had a tumor in her brain.

That, in itself, doesn’t seem like very helpful news. Being in a car accident and then finding out you have a brain tumor seems like a case of things going from bad to worse — but for Lee-Tubby, the timing made all the difference.

The type of mass was determined to be a low-grade meningioma, and around 3,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with them every year. While usually benign, the tumors can cause both neurological and physical issues depending on their location and size.

Thankfully, the MRI revealed the mass before Lee-Tubby manifested any of the side effects. Now that she and her healthcare providers know the tumor is there, they keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand, but she’s managing well.

“It was completely out of the blue and, had it not been for a freak road accident, I wouldn’t have known that I was living with the golf ball sized tumor,” she told the Daily Mail.

“I’ve realized how lucky I was that a freak car accident led to my diagnosis — I dread to think what could have happened if it had been left undetected.”

Cancer is no unfamiliar presence in Lee-Tubby’s life. She lost her father to the vicious disease — and from a brain tumor, too — and her sister is currently fighting her own battle.

“My diagnosis was especially difficult because I’d lost my dad, Graham Lee, then 69, three years earlier to a brain tumor,” Lee-Tubby said. “And I dreaded having to tell my family as it would bring back lots of difficult memories of my dad’s passing.”

“My family have been an amazing support system – especially my sister, Shelly (51) who’s actually battling breast cancer herself.”

Since her harrowing discovery, Lee-Tubby has made an effort to live life “to the full,” support other cancer fighters and survivors and raise money for research — and all because of a car accident.

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