A THEATRE student who learnt to walk again following treatment for an inoperable brain tumour is taking her own show to Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Inspired by her personal experience of dealing with her diagnosis, Olivia Hamblett has borrowed from fellow Stratford resident William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet to create Hamblett.
Instead of holding Yorick’s skull, the prop Olivia is using to promote the show is the green face mask she had to wear during proton beam therapy treatment, and the performance is 40 minutes long – the average duration of an MRI scan.
The 23 year-old, who graduates from Birkbeck University of London in the autumn, comes from an acting family which includes her brother Charlie Hamblett – best known for his role in ‘Killing Eve.’
Olivia – who is performing Hamblett in Edinburgh from August 19 to 25 – first went to her local doctors complaining of dizzy spells which were put down to anxiety, low blood sugar or being a teenager.
But she had her first seizure while on holiday at Easter 2016.
It took until the following October before she was referred for an MRI scan – on her 16th birthday. This showed a mass and Olivia was put on ‘watch and wait’.
Olivia said: “I was prescribed various types of anti-seizure medication, and these had their side effects alongside the inevitable anxiety that having a brain tumour brings. But my paperwork somehow slipped through the cracks, and I heard nothing more about the next steps. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t have a very active mum who was fighting for me.”
Under the care of University College London Hospital, things started to become clearer and it wasn’t good news. Olivia was told that surgery wouldn’t be an option as her tumour – diffuse astrocytoma – straddles the motor cortex part of the brain, which helps to control movement, and there’s no identifiable border between the tumour and surrounding healthy tissue.
The hospital encouraged her to get support and information from The Brain Tumour Charity but even though she was getting weaker Olivia admits: “I was in denial and just felt the less I knew the better.”
That changed in November 2017 when a follow up scan showed the tumour had grown. Olivia was prescribed radiotherapy and chemotherapy but managed to access proton beam therapy on the NHS, travelling to Germany with her parents and younger brother for six weeks of treatment.
Olivia said: “I had to grow up very quickly. But it was strange because how you feel doesn’t always correlate to what’s going on. You might feel good, but tests show that things have got worse, or vice versa.”
Back home, tests showed Olivia was responding to treatment, but then she suffered a large continual seizure caused by a build-up on fluid on the brain. She was rushed from hospital in Warwickshire to London where she spent two months in ICU, in and out of consciousness.
Rehabilitation included regaining strength in her left side and learning to walk again, and treatment meant taking high dose steroids along with a year’s chemotherapy of a week’s regimen followed by three weeks of recovery.
Olivia continued: “The chemotherapy was brutal because I’d just start to lose the feelings of nausea and sickness, then the regime would start again. I spent about a year recovering and it has stabilised the tumour, but it was heartbreaking being in hospital instead of taking my A-levels – I love learning.”
Olivia took a two-year foundation course at the University of Oxford and then continued her studies at Birkbeck, which is known for its support for students with disabilities. And this autumn she’s graduating, having achieved the highest grade ever awarded by her tutor for her independent research project.
Her mum Judy said: “After all she’s been through, it’s testament to her resilience that she wants no pity and wants anyone involved in helping to put on this show to be paid and for it to help in their future careers.”
Catherine Fraher, at The Brain Tumour Charity, said they were grateful to Olivia for creating the show to raise awareness of brain tumours.
She added: “We know that everyone deals with a brain tumour diagnosis and its aftermath in their own way. That’s why The Brain Tumour Charity offers specialist support to anyone who needs it. It’s so important for them to know that they are not alone.”
Visit www.thebraintumourcharity.org or call 0808 800 0004 for support and further information.
Olivia is performing Hamblett at theSpace on the Mile (V39) in Edinburgh. Click here for tickets.
