Nurse who treats brain tumour patients diagnoses her OWN tumour – after spotting a poster at work

SHE spends her working days caring for patients with brain tumours.

But nurse Chantal Smits only realised she too was suffering the disease after spotting a poster at work.

The now 22-year-old started suffering minor symptoms like headaches in her first year as a student nurse, in 2014.

"I felt tired all the time and used to fall asleep at 8pm, pretty much as soon as my daily shift was over," she told The Sun.

"But I put it down to the fact that at that time I was working 40 hours a week and writing essays all weekend. And in any case, all nurses are shattered half the time! It’s a hazard of the job."

Chantal took painkillers to ease the pain, but didn't think it was bad enough to see a doctor.

This means nobody can tell her yet whether or not it is cancerous.

There's also a potential it could start to grow one day where it would need chemo and radiotherapy, just like many of the brain tumour patients she works with on a daily basis.

Chantal is currently taking medication to manage her symptoms and is on a "watch and wait" policy regarding future treatment.

The only way to benchmark tumours which can’t be biopsied is to do regular, three monthly scans, she explains.