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Frankie Bridge has admitted she was left in shock after doctors found a benign tumour in her neck as she revealed it ‘knocked her sideways’.
The Saturdays star, 36, was found to have a benign neck tumour last year after she underwent an MRI scan following constant headaches.
While the tumour was luckily nothing sinister, Frankie confessed she initially ‘thought the worst’ after the doctors told her the shock news.
In a reflective Instagram post on her 36th birthday on Tuesday, Frankie discussed how the health scare changed her approach to life going forward.
She wrote: ‘This year after finally going to a doctor about my daily headaches and having an MRI. They discovers a tumour in my neck.
‘The call knocked me sideways, They had no idea what it was at the time and I obviously thought the worst.
‘I was so angry at myself for not going to the doctors sooner. I was convinced I was now dying and I probably could have done something to avoid it. Luckily for me, that wasn’t the case.’
Frankie explained the tumour is a benign subependymoma, which is very rare but is nothing to do with her headaches.
Growing on her spinal cord and down the length of her neck, she revealed the doctors have decided not to remove it for now and will just monitor it for any change.
She continued: ‘It made me realise that things can be happening within my body and I’d have no idea. This thing has been growing there for probably my whole life.
‘There’s so many other things that could be doing exactly the same and I could have avoided them.’
Discussing managing stress, Frankie added: ‘Turns out the headaches are due to stress. I have gut issues also, due to stress.
‘We know many cancers and illnesses can be exasperated or brought on by stress, yet every time a doctor tells me to find the time to “manage my stess” I just laugh.
‘I have depression, anxiety, two kids, a husband, a job and many other factors of my life that like everyone create stress. Stress is just a part of my everyday life.
‘I’ll take all the pills to mask all they symptoms, instead of actually addressing it. Until now….’
Revealing how she wants to adapt the ‘1% theory’ she concluded: ‘I expect myself to be 100% at all times, at all things. Even though I’ve always known this is impossible, it hasn’t stopped me from trying an then punishing myself everyday that I haven’t succeeded.
‘And to be honest with you, I’ve had enough. It doesn’t work for me, or for anyone else in my life.’
Speaking about the tumour last February, Frankie told the Loose Women panel: ‘I’ve recently had an MRI and just by chance they found something on my neck so I had to have another MRI.
‘It turned out to be a tumour which is benign, it doesn’t need treating, it’s absolutely fine.’
Frankie revealed that the diagnosis came at the worst possible time, as her husband Wayne Bridge was away and she was singlehandedly caring for their sons Parker, nine and Carter, seven.
She continued: ‘But for that first week when the doctor rang me, I was on my own, Wayne was away. I was in the middle of cooking the boys dinner.
‘Instantly I thought, “that’s it, this is my time, I’m going to be sick.” I did go straight to, “oh God I’m gonna die.”
‘Luckily for me, it’s really rare and they only came across it because they were scanning me for my headaches.
‘That week of not telling the kids, my friends, anything like that, I kind of breezed through the week.’
Frankie also previously revealed she was suffering from headaches brought on by muscle tension in her neck and jaw.
She explained she was trying to alleviate tension in her neck that came from clenching her jaw too frequently and had booked in to get muscle relaxer injections.
Frankie said: ‘No matter how many massages I get… I’m a big jaw clencher. So I’ve always got tension neck ache which always leads to tension headaches. So I thought I’d try something new with @natalikellyldn.’
Aesthetic practitioner Natali Kelly then explained the treatment, saying she would be injecting a neuromodulator to relax the muscles for ‘less pain and an elongated swanlike neck’.
Frankie confessed to her followers: ‘I was definitely nervous. Can you tell?! But I couldn’t actually feel anything! Phew! I’ll let you know if it helps!’
