DAVINA McCall's brain surgeon listened to ABBA as he carried out her complex five-hour operation The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
Neurosurgeon Kevin O'Neill, 62, says life-saving surgery gets so stressful that his hand could start shaking so he uses music to calm himself.
When the top brain expert was asked if he listened to ABBA during The Masked Singer star's surgery in November he said: "Oh, I was. I love ABBA in theatre.
"Some people like silence to focus — sometimes you do need that — but it's about balancing stress with performance.
"Stress can actually improve your performance to a certain extent, until it becomes excessive and then it paralyses you and it gives you the shakes.
"So you've got to have mechanisms to control that and one of them is to put some music on."
He added that he's such a fan of the Swedish superstars that he's twice been to see their avatar show Voyage.
Davina, 57, discovered a 14mm colloid cyst when she was offered a free health scan after giving a talk on the menopause.
The TV host faced the risk of sudden death without surgery.
Following the procedure, she spent three days in intensive care and then five days recuperating at London's Cleveland Clinic.
Speaking to Helen Fospero on the Convex Conversation podcast, Kevin admitted that he was nervous when Davina came round following the surgery.
He said: "She gave us a fright because she was away with the fairies."
But the op proved successful, and a recent MRI scan confirmed the tumour is not coming back.
Kevin said: "I had a big smile on my face when I saw that scan."
The most common symptoms of a brain tumour
More than 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour every year — of which around half are cancerous — with 5,300 losing their lives.
The disease is the most deadly cancer in children and adults aged under 40, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
Brain tumours reduce life expectancies by an average of 27 years, with just 12 per cent of adults surviving five years after diagnosis.
There are two main types, with non-cancerous benign tumours growing more slowly and being less likely to return after treatment.
Cancerous malignant brain tumours can either start in the brain or spread there from elsewhere in the body and are more likely to return.
Brain tumours can cause headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting and memory problems, according to the NHS.
They can also lead to changes in personality weakness or paralysis on one side of the problem and problems with speech or vision.
The nine most common symptoms are:
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Feeling sick
- Being sick
- Memory problems
- Change in personality
- Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
- Vision problems
- Speech problems
If you are suffering any of these symptoms, particularly a headache that feels different from the ones you normally get, you should visit your GP.
Source: NHS
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