A ROSYTH mum who has been waiting months in agony for a life-changing operation was given a hospital appointment less than a week after her story was published in the Press.

Hannah Trickett, 32, who co-owns restaurant Faodail in Kincardine with her partner Michael, was featured on the front page of the Press last month after she told us she feared she would be dead before she got her op.

The surgery, which can only be done in Glasgow, would fix equipment for a rare brain condition that keeps her alive.

The Scottish Government said they were concerned by Hannah’s case when the Press highlighted her story, stating that “clinical priority patients should be seen without delay”.

Just two days later, she was contacted by the NHS who booked her in for an appointment with her surgeon the following Tuesday.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that it happened because of the Dunfermline Press, there’s no other reason,” she said.

“It’s ridiculous that you even have to entertain the thought of going to the media though just to get heard.

“I’m told all the time that I have to keep waiting and all of a sudden an appointment was available.

“However, I am not really any further forward because now I have to go and get a scan. I still have no idea when I’ll be getting the surgery.”

Since the birth of her daughter – now aged eight – Hannah has suffered from an incurable, and rare, brain condition that she has described as leaving “too much fluid on the brain in places it shouldn’t be”.

The brain disease effectively leaves her with the symptoms of a tumour without actually having one.

The machine that fixes this by removing fluid from the brain has been malfunctioning since February, causing her horrendous pain, but Hannah is still waiting for treatment nine MONTHS later.

Out of frustration, the mum and business owner protested at Holyrood three weeks ago, claiming that a Fife postcode was stopping people accessing vital treatments because their local health board didn’t have the facilities they needed.

Hannah added: “Annabelle Ewing MSP told me there that she would write to the chief executive of NHS Scotland at Holyrood but she has done that before and it does not make a difference.

“At the protest, there were about four or five of us and lots of people were taking pictures and asking questions.

“In Parliament that day, there were about 30 nurses who were asked for their opinion as the budget had just been announced. They supported us and said NHS staff were getting patients’ frustrations taken out on them.

“Despite my appointment, I still wanted to protest. They just know that they can’t leave me as long because my case has been highlighted.

“We’ll see how long I have to wait for a scan.”