SHE is a mum-of-two with a brain tumour she knows will eventually kill her.

But instead of “watching and waiting” like medical professionals have suggested, Deborah (Debbie) Selam is busy living.

And the Dalton woman is helping campaign for more action for brain tumour research and support.

After suffering a major seizure in 2007, Debbie was found at the bottom of the stairs covered in blood and convulsing.

Several hours later, she woke up terrified in an MRI scanner.

But according to Debbie, although being diagnosed with a low grade Astrocytoma – a type of brain tumour, she was strangely “relieved”.

She said: “I had a near death experience. I was convinced I had a heart attack and told myself my heart had given in.

“To wake up and hear that I had a brain tumour that was low grade, I was relieved, I was still alive.

“I had my baby, my husband, my family and I was going to be able to go home and be with them again.

“I was told that it was slow-growing and I would have to have regular scans to see if it had changed.

“This is referred to as watch and wait – a term that I hate, so I call it watch and live.

“It is when it becomes more active it becomes dangerous and needs assessment for treatment.”

In December 2010, when Debbie was six months pregnant with her second son Yusuf, she received a phone call from her neurologist, who told her that the tumour was active.

She said: “My husband and I put the world on pause for that evening. We decided not to think about it and we went to watch my son Shamsie in his school play.

“It was fantastic, he looked beautiful, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“In many ways I thank the brain tumour for allowing me to see life like that”.

Following a scan in around four weeks, Debbie is set to undergo an Awake Craniotomy – an operation where her neurosurgeon Prof Henry Marsh will attempt to remove as much of the tumour is possible.