A BRAVE daughter has spoken of how her family has struggled after her mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent nearly 20 operations, leaving her with no short-term memory.

Alisha Wilson was just 12 years old when her mum Gillian began to experience symptoms, including migraines and dizziness, at the age of 38.

She had not long given birth to her second daughter Abbie Rose.

Gillian, now 51, was given tablets as doctors were putting her sore heads down to stress. She was later recommended to get her eyes tested, which revealed a mass behind her pituitary gland.

Glasgow Times:

Alisha, 23, said: “I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on, I was watching my mum going in and out of the hospital and not having a clue why. I just saw her really not well and always got told it was a sore head my mum had.

“She basically lived in the hospital for three or four years. I felt like I lived in the hospital. My routine was to wake up, get ready, go to school and as soon as I came home from school, I’d get dinner put down for me then go to the hospital and that would be us until I went to bed.

READ MORE: 'Every parent's worst nightmare': Mum speaks out after daughter, 7, diagnosed with brain tumour

“If it wasn’t that, I was going to a friend’s house until my gran or stepdad came home to look after us because they were at the hospital.

“My mum was really scared; I know she was scared. We didn’t really know what was going to happen, if she was going to get better, or if that was going to be it.

“She was worried about how she was going to look after me and my sister. Then I think she thought going into the hospital was going to solve it all, but she didn’t realise all of these issues were going to come after.”

Glasgow Times:

After undergoing a total of 18 operations, Gillian, from Bridgeton, has been left with a number of serious health matters, including no short-term memory and two types of diabetes.

Her tumour has not been able to be removed, but she has shunts that drain it when needed.

Gillian has not been operated on since 2016, but Alisha explained that her mum has never been the same.

“She is a bit more stable now but she’s not my mum,” Alisha said.

“She’s not who she was before. There was a massive change in my mum’s personality. She’s like a different woman.

“She was such a calm, placid person before. She had lots of patience, she had no issues, was always cleaning, was out working, always out doing stuff with me and my sister, always took me to my clubs. Anything I had to go to, my mum did it all, whereas now she can’t do any of that.

“She’s sore all of the time so she can’t really get out the house and do much because she’s always in pain. She’s really tired all of the time and all she does is sleep. It’s a massive change, a whole different person.

“I can see the difference, whereas my sister only knows my mum for who she is now, but I knew my mum before and now this person after, which is sad.”

Glasgow Times:

Alisha admits struggling to deal with what the family were going through when she was in high school.

She said: “I turned quite fiery myself but it’s because I kept saying ‘this isn’t who my mum was, how can she not just get better and come back to the person she was’.

“I didn’t fully understand the concept until my gran sat me down and explained with a doctor ‘this is what’s happened to your mum, this is what she’s going through, and this is why she’s so different'.

“That’s when it finally started to make sense to me that we were not going to get back who my mum was, we were just going to need to accept who she was then and try to help her as much as we can.

“She can’t remember day to day things. Because she sleeps all the time she gets confused about day and night and what’s happening.

“It’s a constant reminder to say, ‘this is what date we’re on, this is what we’re doing’. She’ll go for a nap and wake up and it’s the exact same conversation again. We’ve all just learned how to deal with it in our own ways.

“She can phone me and ask me a question and within a few minutes, she will phone again, not realising she just did. I could have the exact same conversation over and over again.”

Earlier this year, we previously reported how Alisha was preparing to take part in Brain Tumour Research's 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge.

Glasgow Times:

She managed to raise £715 for the charity.

“It was knowing they were out there researching and doing things to help support people which caught my eye,” Alisha said.

“The doctors gave me advice but when I contacted the charity it was just for someone to speak to.

“There were people telling their story on the website and Facebook group and it was relatable. Somebody else was in the same shoes as me and I didn’t feel alone.

“I kept asking myself why I was so angry over the whole situation, and when I was online there was a lot of people feeling angry, not just me.

“I felt dead guilty for feeling angry but other people opened up they said they were the same and explained how they dealt with it and that’s what helped me go ‘right if that worked for them it might work for me, I can give it a try’.”