28-07-2025
I thought my snoring was caused by a blocked nose – it was actually a sign of a skull-eroding disease
WHEN Claire Barbery first started snoring, she didn't think much of i t.
But the blocked nose the 51-year-old from Newquay, Cornwall, had been battling turned out to be something serious - a tumour eating away at the base of her skull.
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The mum-of-two nearly cancelled the hospital appointment that led to her diagnosis because she didn't want to 'waste the time' of the NHS.
'There's nothing wrong, I thought. But looking back, that decision could have cost me my life," she added.
'I started snoring, which I'd never done before. I was waking myself up, breathing through my mouth rather than my nose.
'Even then, I nearly cancelled my hospital appointment. I didn't want to waste anyone's time. I just left it and thought it was something to do with having had Covid the month before.'
Claire had been experiencing a continuous blockage in one side of her nose and initially put it down to the effects of regular Covid testing while working in a care home.
After a steroid spray failed to help, she sought medical advice in January 2023.
Following scans and a biopsy, doctors delivered the news she had olfactory neuroblastoma - a rare cancer developing in the upper part of the nasal cavity.
The 5cm tumour had already begun eroding bone at the base of her skull.
She underwent complex surgery at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital to have it removed.
Claire has now partnered with UK charity - the Get A-Head Charitable Trust to raise awareness of World Head and Neck Cancer Day today, which was yesterday (27 July).
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She added: 'If you know your body, then you've got to push.
'If there's something wrong, don't ignore it.'
The procedure in January last year was performed by consultant surgeon Shahz Ahmed, who specialises in skull base procedures.
It was filmed as part of the Channel 5 documentary 'Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death'.
Mr Ahmed said: 'Claire had a very rare form of cancer that needed to be removed.
'Untreated, it could have metastasized and spread into the neck and the rest of the body.
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'It had already gone through the skull base into the base of the brain and if left, it would have become harder and harder to treat.'
The delicate operation involved removing the tumour, along with Claire's olfactory bulbs - meaning she has permanently lost her sense of smell - and reconstructing the area between her nose and brain.
Mr Ahmed added: 'The key worries were operating between the left and the right eye.
'The main blood supply to the brain is in very close proximity so the risk of seizures, stroke, injury to the brain and loss of life, were all very real.
'Thankfully, the surgery was a huge success and Claire suffered no complications.'
Following surgery, Claire underwent six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and is now under regular review with her medical team.
She is gradually returning to work and since treatment finished has been enjoying holidays with her husband Gary as well as spending more time with daughters Lowenna, 27, and Keizha, 25.
