Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Deadly tumour: Single mum's 'life-changing diagnosis' after 8 years of being fobbed off

Emma Russell
By Emma Russell
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
13 Jan, 2020 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Being diagnosed with a brain tumour would be most people's worst nightmare, but after years of being told there was nothing wrong with her Hannah Cadwallader finally finds the answers she's been looking for. Video / Alan Gibson

For nearly eight years Hannah Cadwallader was told her serious illness was in her head.

Now, the 28-year-old is getting surgery to remove a potentially deadly tumour in her brain.

The Papamoa single mum wants to share her story to raise awareness about the rare disease which could have eventually killed her had it not been picked up. She hopes to prevent others from experiencing the years of suffering that she did.

"If just one person can benefit from my suffering it will make this fight all the more worth it.

"I could have died but this one doctor listened and has saved my life," Cadwallader told the Herald while holding back tears.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

READ MORE:
• A glimpse into the lives of Kiwis living with a rare condition on Rare Disease Day
• New Years Honours: Tauranga woman honoured for work with rare diseases
• New Zealand Organisation for Rare Diseases facing closure without enough funding

The young mum is about one in a million people to have Cushing disease - a condition where the pituitary gland releases too much of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), also known as the stress hormone.

Patients with the disorder can develop high blood pressure, weight gain, bone and muscle loss, acne, severe fatigue, cognitive difficulties, headaches, depression, anxiety and
irritability.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For Cadwallader it was all of the above.

"At one point, for eight months I went to bed every night thinking I'd be dead in the morning.

"I was going to the doctor every three days, I couldn't walk properly. . . it felt like I was on a cruise ship most of the time. My vision was going, I sometimes slur my speech, it's been horrible."

Cadwallader said she slipped under the radar for years and was treated under the mental health umbrella.

Discover more

Greerton Hall noise complainer says he never wanted groups kicked out

18 Jan 12:04 AM

"Numerous times I was prescribed anti-psychotic medications and told to 'deal with my anxiety' and that I was a 'hypochondriac'."

That was until Dr Glen Davies saw her one day in hospital when he was on-call.

"He just looked at me and told me to stand sideways and he looked at my profile, and he said because my limbs were so skinny and my stomach was so big and my face is the shape it is it could be Cushing disease.

"Within two minutes he had all the blood tests I needed to do. In the next couple of weeks I was admitted into Waikato Hospital where I had a MRI and they found a big tumour."

Cadwallader said she has been bumped up the list and is scheduled for surgery to remove the tumour in March.

Hannah Cadwallader has been diagnosed with Cushing disease after seven years of being told her illness is in her head. Photo / Alan Gibson
Hannah Cadwallader has been diagnosed with Cushing disease after seven years of being told her illness is in her head. Photo / Alan Gibson

Davies told the Herald he'd received extra training for integrated and lifestyle medicine which taught him to always ask why.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I think one of the problems with pharmaceutical medicine is that we make a diagnosis and then the only 'why' we ask is which is the right medicine to treat this condition.

"One of things I always try to do is when something is unusual, like a young person with high blood pressure, I ask why and I think it's just asking that question that prompts you to think there has to be more to this and that's all I did with Hannah."

Davies said before Cadwallader he'd treated people with Cushing disease before but never made the initial diagnosis.

"She spoke about fatigue, difficulty loosing weight and muscle strength, trouble with word finding and I just joined the dots."

Rare Disorders NZ's chief executive, Lisa Foster, said it was important for people to understand the varied symptoms that can be complex.

"Clinicians need to be aware and not jump to the conclusion that the patient is making it up. Rare diseases often are easy to dismiss for this reason."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A Givealittle page has been set up to help Cadwallader pay for her medical costs.

About Cushing disease:

• It's a condition in which the pituitary gland releases too much adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), also known as the stress hormone.

• Cushing disease is caused by a tumour or excess growth of the pituitary gland.

• Roughly one in a million New Zealanders have the disease.

• Common signs include: weight gain around the abdomen, upper back, face and between the shoulders, severe fatigue, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, cognitive difficulties and bone loss.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times
|Updated

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Bay of Plenty Times

Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows

Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions
Bay of Plenty Times
|Updated

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Reinz report shows sales volumes below expected, more days to sell.

14 Jul 09:54 PM
Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows
Bay of Plenty Times

Vaccine decline threatens 95% target as hesitancy grows

14 Jul 09:34 PM
$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'
Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'

14 Jul 07:38 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP