Woman visits doctor for ear infection, learns she has brain tumor

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A Lansing woman’s life was turned upside down when visited the doctor for an ear infection and discovered she had a brain tumor.

Annette Courtier went to her doctor for an ear infection, little did she know her doctor would also discover she had a benign pituitary brain tumor.

But this didn’t stop Courtier from living, in fact she says it helped change her life for the better. Courtier had just enrolled in school at the University of Michigan before her diagnosis.

She says she was trying to get out of a dark place after losing her sister to cancer in 2019. But when she found out she had a tumor, she says she wasn’t going to let it affect her goals.

Courtier was doing homework in her hospital bed at Henry Ford just days after surgery. She continued school and graduated on time this past August.

“A brain tumor doesn’t stop your life. Your life is what you make of your life, and that’s what I did. So again, working on finishing my education, finishing my bachelor’s degree, which I did,” Courtier said.

She wants others to know it’s important to be your own advocate when it comes to health. If you feel something is wrong — get it checked out, don’t wait for it to go away because it could just get worse.

“Having brain surgery, recovering from brain surgery, going back to work. All of those things. I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently. I didn’t give myself time to dwell on it because it wasn’t necessary.”