Aisha Spencer had it all — a happy marriage, a spa business and a baby on the way.

Then last July, her world started caving in.

“I was at work and I kept going to the door but I felt like I couldn’t leave the room,” said Mrs Spencer, 34.

She didn’t know it, but she was having a seizure, and after several more, was diagnosed with a oligodendroglioma, a frontal lobe brain tumour.

“As tumours go, it is probably the best kind to have, if there is such a thing,” she said. “It is not rare and it is slow growing. I might have had it for a long time, but unfortunately pregnancy hormones can make it grow faster.”

She was rushed to Toronto Western Hospital in Canada for evaluation.

“She was 14 weeks pregnant at the time,” said her husband, Roderick Spencer. “We had to make the heartbreaking decision to terminate the pregnancy.”

Mrs Spencer still cries when she thinks about it.

“It was very hard,” she said.

She had brain surgery to remove the tumour, and will not need chemotherapy or radiation unless it regrows.

The Spencers had run the Serenity Spa at Pompano Beach Club since 2009 and were in the early stages of taking over the Newstead spa when Mrs Spencer fell ill.

Mr Spencer stayed with her for three weeks after the surgery and then returned to Bermuda to handle the setting up of the Three Graces Day Spa at Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort.

“It was complicated because when we first began talks the hotel was in receivership,” he said. “Then when the hotel was sold things went more smoothly.”

Mrs Spencer fell in love with the beauty industry as a child growing up in Kenya. Her mother would do hair and make-up for brides at their home.

“The brides would leave from our house to go to their weddings,” said Mrs Spencer. “My mother would also do a hair removal treatment called sugaring. This involves a ball of honey, sugar and lemon. There are no strips. It’s something I’d like to try in my own spas.”

At 16, she and her parents moved to Toronto.

“It was a very hard transition,” she said. “All my family was back in Kenya, but my parents wanted a better life for me. Back at home girls were being married off at 14 years old.”

In Toronto, Mrs Spencer worked in spas for a few years before meeting Mr Spencer, a Bermudian.

“I used to come to Toronto a lot with a basketball team I was coaching,” said Mr Spencer.

They dated long distance for a time and then married in 2007.

In Bermuda, Mrs Spencer worked for different spas, but always dreamed of running her own. When that dream was finally realised the business did well and the Spencers wanted to expand.

“We held off a bit though, and waited for an opportunity to emerge,” said Mr Spencer. “Then we got a call out of the blue saying would you like to talk with us about taking over the spa at Newstead.”

Mrs Spencer said thoughts of the business expansion kept her going during her recovery.

“Having the Newstead spa to look forward to gave me strength,” she said. “Also, my clients are a huge part of my life. I am so grateful to the support I have gotten from them.”

She is now fully recovered, but must fly back to Toronto every three months for check-ups.

“You can never get all the cells with something like this,” she said.

The Three Graces Spa opened in April. Mrs Spencer sometimes finds it hard to focus on management, because she loves giving beauty treatments so much.

“I take a hands-on approach,” she said.

Mr Spencer works full time for Butterfield and Vallis in information technology, but says he has learnt more about the spa business than he ever thought possible.

“I am now really conscious of my nails,” he said. “I do the back office business work for the spa in the evening when I am finished with my full time job. It is like having a second job.”

The Spencers have put plans for children aside for the time being.

“Looking on the positive side, maybe God was preparing us for this,” said Mrs Spencer. “I have come back stronger. I feel good. It has definitely changed my outlook on life. I take every day as though it is my last. I try to live fully with no regrets.”