Doctors told me I had weeks to live. Then they did one final test.

When Lauren Wagner’s doctor called her, she could instantly hear the devastation in his voice.

“The first thing he asked me was, ‘are you alone right now?’ I knew right then it wasn’t good,” Lauren tells Mamamia. 

Despite being young and active, the 24-year-old marketing graduate had been suffering from back pain for months.

“Even just lifting my head to get out of bed was a difficult task,” she said. 

“I had a hard time working and driving, and nothing took the pain away.” 

At the time in August 2020, Lauren was working from home due to the pandemic, so her doctor suggested her desk set-up was likely to blame. 

She’d spent most days hunched over a laptop on her bed, so it seemed likely. 

“I bought an ergonomically friendly chair, but it didn't help. I would use my desk, sit on my bed, and alternate positions but I eventually had to leave my job due to the excruciating amount of pain I was in,” she said. 

When she turned to a chiropractor, the chiropractor told Lauren she’d treated people who’d been in car accidents that were in better shape than she was. 

While Lauren’s X-rays were all clear, she was then sent for an MRI which revealed the horrifying truth. 

Lauren had a Giant Cell Tumour - a rare, aggressive, one-in-a-million tumour in her upper spine. 

“I could hear the sadness in my doctor’s voice,” Lauren said. 

"I was absolutely devastated…I was (also) extremely relieved to have an answer as to what had been causing all this pain.” 

What followed was a gruelling 23-hour operation where a team of specialists worked to remove the tumour and reconstruct Lauren’s spine. 

Watch: In her shoes, Lea's cancer story. Post continues below video. 

They warned Lauren her recovery would be extensive, but she had no idea just what she would be waking up to. And her case was so rare, neither did specialists. 

“Because of the extent of my nerve damage during the surgery, I woke up unable to speak, swallow, or use my arms and hands,” she told Mamamia. 

“I learned the surgery paralysed my vocal cords and upper extremities."

For months, Lauren underwent gruelling rehabilitation and therapy to regain the basic functions most of us take for granted. Even re-learning to hold a cup of water was painstaking. 

But Lauren managed to battle through and was able to go home by Christmas 2021. However, within weeks, she had developed a life-threatening infection - a complication from the surgery. 

What followed was round after round of “spinal washout” surgeries in an attempt to rid her body of the infection.

“My team didn’t know the source of my infection, but they were just hoping that after every washout surgery, that would be enough to get rid of it…that wasn’t the case because it came back every time,” she said. 

As Lauren’s body continued to be ravaged, she became weaker and weaker. 

She realised she would likely never leave the hospital again. 

Image: Supplied. 

In March last year, Lauren’s team pitched another extensive, more complex surgery, which she refused. 

“I was so weak, physically and mentally and had no more fight left in me,” she said. 

“Refusing this meant the next steps were end-of-life care.” 

Much to the devastation of Lauren’s parents, Carolyn and Glenn, arrangements were made for palliative care. 

In what she calls her “darkest days”, Lauren recalls almost feeling a sense of relief that she would soon be free from the pain and suffering. 

But as plans were made to keep Lauren comfortable, her doctors decided to run a swallow study - something they had already done once before - after noticing she was choking when she tried to drink liquids. 

It was a last-ditch attempt to find the source of the infection. 

And it worked. 

This time, the test showed an esophageal tear caused by one of the metal plates during her original surgery that had previously been missed. 

So in March last year, Lauren underwent her sixth and final surgery to remove the plate and repair the tear.

Within a month, she was able to walk out the hospital doors to continue her recovery at home. 

“Had I originally agreed to the more complex surgery they proposed, they would've never found the source of my infection and I would've kept getting sicker and sicker,” Lauren says. 

Image: Supplied.

While it is difficult for Lauren, now 27, to think about just how close she came to losing her life, she’s determine to share her story on TikTok to support others battling giant-cell tumours. 

Lauren has been left with a hand disability due to the nerve damage caused during surgery but says she’s focusing on moving forward. 

“I am doing my best to navigate this new life but I am just extremely grateful to still be here, given a second chance at life.”