In Hope

Caroline was 13 when she was diagnosed with a pituitary gland brain tumour after her mother finally managed to persuade doctors to take her worrying weight gain and growth seriously. For a number of years, she had been told to get Caroline to lose weight. Caroline underwent surgery twice because the tumour returned and now, aged 26, she will have to take medication for the rest of her life after her pituitary gland was damaged during surgery.

Carrie-Ann Greenwood, from Holywell in Flintshire, North Wales, was 36 weeks pregnant when a sudden loss of vision on her right side prompted her to visit her optician. She was referred for an MRI scan, which revealed a golf ball-sized tumour on her pituitary gland.

The diagnosis in May 2016 led to an emergency caesarean section to deliver her daughter Cerys, followed by brain surgery just days later.

It took four months of headaches gradually getting worse before Catherine was finally diagnosed. One day she had such blinding pain on the left side of her head that her husband called an ambulance and she was taken to A&E. Catherine was given a CT scan, leading to the discovery that she had a brain tumour, which later turned out to be a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

Mum-of-three Catherine Wilcockson had not been feeling herself and was mistakenly prescribed anti-depressants to treat her symptoms. After a couple of episodes of ‘blacking out’ and then a massive seizure in May 2019, it was finally discovered that she had a brain tumour. The 37-year-old from Sheffield has undergone an awake craniotomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy and, since her recovery, has dedicated herself to fundraising for Brain Tumour Research. Remarkably, Catherine feels like her diagnosis has given her a new lease of life

After suffering with migraines during his recovery from leg lengthening surgery, in January 2020, Chae from Bude in Cornwall was given a CT scan which showed a lesion on his brain and he was diagnosed with a rare pilocytic astrocytoma. Inoperable due to its location, Chae had a biopsy which showed the tumour, initially thought to be grade 4 was in fact low-grade and he received combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment followed by a gruelling six months of chemotherapy. After having to give up his dream of playing rugby professionally, 22-year-old Chae now relies on the full-time care of his mother, Maggie and is left with limited mobility and sight problems. Chae wants to share his story to help raise awareness of what it’s like to live with a brain tumour to help people understand how they can support a loved one after diagnosis.

Having ruled out meningitis as the cause of his headaches and vomiting, 10-year-old Charlie, who has a twin sister, was scanned. A mass was discovered which turned out to be a craniopharyngioma brain tumour. He underwent surgery and proton beam therapy and is now on hormone replacement medication and hoping he won’t need further surgery or treatment.