I thought I was just stressed from a triple tragedy – then an alert on my watch said my own life was in danger
But nothing could prepare her for what was to come - a series of events that began with her Apple Watch going off, and ended with her life hanging in the balance.
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Sam, 57, who lives near Brighton, East Sussex, tells Sun Health: 'In 2020, I lost my dad. I nursed him in the last couple of weeks of his life.
'My dog passed away suddenly and my marriage had recently broken down all within a matter of months.
'The grief was literally almost unbearable. It challenged my sense of identity and it left me struggling to move forward with anything in my life or business.
'I felt completely stuck. I was hugely stressed, although I felt like I was mentally strong.
'I felt like I was emotionally drowning and hit rock bottom with depression.'
After spending most of 2021 'piecing herself together' - Sam embarked on a one-month solo trip to Costa Rica the following year.
'It gave me a reset,' she says. 'I fell in love with trees and nature and I got into a regular breathwork practice out there, which became a big part of my healing.'
But just two weeks after returning home, things took another, unexpected turn.
'I'd hit my head badly while I was away and couldn't shake off this jet lag feeling,' says Sam.
'I got out of my car looking at my phone to find a coffee shop and hit my head on a metal pole.
I was given a week to live after doctors found a decade-old tumour on my brain
'I was dazed and bruised so I took it easy for a few days.
'But after I had been back for two weeks, I was still feeling awful.
'I thought it was jet lag - I had really low energy and a dull headache at the front of my head.
'My Apple Watch also kept saying my heart rate was low.'
Sam says she didn't pay a huge amount of notice at first - she had just returned home after a life-changing trip and an 11-hour flight, and was battling a seven-hour time difference after all.
But two weeks later, she went to a pharmacist to get her blood pressure checked.
The results were sent to her GP and Sam says she received a call the same day telling her she needed to come in first thing, do no exercise and ring 999 if she suffered shoulder, chest or jaw pain.
'I was very alarmed,' she recalls. 'I went out for dinner with my sister that night and we were both so worried.
'The next day I had an ECG and it was discovered that my heart was throwing out ectopic beats.'
Also known as cardiac ectopy, the condition causes extra beats or palpitations that feel like your heart is skipping a beat.
Stress, anxiety, a lack of sleep, too much booze, smoking and caffeine are all triggers for the common issue, which is usually harmless and doesn't damage the heart, according to the British Heart Foundation.
In some cases though, it can be deadly.
Medics sent Sam for further investigations - and she spent the day in hospital having blood tests.
'They asked if I had done any foreign travel and when I said 'yes', they asked if anything had happened,' she says.
'I said I had hit my head so I went for a CT scan.'
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Sam was given a heart monitor to wear for 24 hours, and was prescribed beta blockers, which are used to slow down the heart.
Two weeks later she received a call from her cardiologist - one she will never forget.
It was earth-shattering news; they had discovered a brain tumour.
Despite having nothing to do with her head injury, or heart condition, the CT scan she had had as a result of her investigations had proved vital.
Sam, who loved tennis and bike riding but was no longer able to exercise says: 'My head was spinning, I was spiralling; I sat alone on the sofa and phoned my sister.
'I was completely forced to face my own mortality - mentally it was huge.
'I slept sitting up and was terrified to go to sleep in case I wouldn't wake up.'
The 6 barely-there symptoms of a brain tumour
BRAIN tumours are one of the most deadly forms of cancer — but not all tumours are cancerous.
Glioblastomas are the most common type of malignant brain tumour, affecting around 2,200 Brits a year and making up a third of all brain tumours diagnosed in England between 1995 and 2017.
They develop from glial cells — the supporting cells of the brain and spinal cord.
Other types of brain tumour, both cancerous and not, include: astrocytoma, ependymoma, medulloblastoma, pituitary and spinal cord.
Doctors can test for tumours with MRI or CT scans, as well as neurological examinations and biopsies.
The main treatments are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as well as supportive treatments to ease symptoms.
Symptoms depend on where tumours are located on the brain and can often be missed at the early stages of the disease, when it is easier to treat.
They can also easily be mistaken for something else, so it is important to know what to watch out for.
While they can cause headaches, nausea and seizures, some more subtle signs include:
Getting irritated easily - as well as losing motivation, depression, anxiety, mood swings and difficulty planning, organising or identifying emotions
Growth spurts - brain tumours can affect the pituitary gland (a part of the brain that makes hormones, including the ones that cause growth), so they can cause people to quickly increase in height
Difficulty making facial expressions due to nerve damage (e.g. being unable to smile, frown or move their face when speaking)
Voices in your head - as well as short-term memory loss
Struggling to read
Needing the toilet more often due to changes to the endocrine system (which controls a range of bodily functions)
Due to the location of Sam's tumour, doctors have told her that while it is likely to be benign, it is inoperable.
She has to take aspirin every day for the rest of her life, and has brain scans every month.
'I was told these tumours are generally benign and they don't operate unless it is impacting life,' she says.
'But it can affect your vision and speech, and cause seizures.
'It can't be operated on because of where it is but they want to keep a close eye on it so if it does start to grow they will have to intervene.'
In August 2022, Sam, who also takes blood pressure tablets, underwent an ablation - a procedure using heat or cold energy to create tiny scars in the heart and stop the electrical impulses that cause irregular heart rhythms.
She says: 'My heart was under immense strain and needed treatment.'
Sam recalls how she could not be sedated as they had to see her heart.
She describes the ordeal, where her organ was 'zapped', as 'horrific'.
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Now, still living with the tumour, which she has nicknamed Timmy, she says: 'I have gone through hell.
'I worry about the brain tumour. If I lose balance I catastrophise, asking myself, 'Is it Timmy?'
'I suffer what I call 'scanxiety' - both pre and post my scans.
'I am 2st heavier and I don't have the energy I used to.'
Looking back, Sam believes stress was the cause of her ordeal.
'The early warning I didn't know I needed'
'In 2020, like many others, I experienced extreme emotional pressure - and I now understand just how much unprocessed stress and trauma can live in the body,' she says.
'That realisation led me to deepen my own healing and ultimately shape the work I now do through Life and Breath — a method that combines deep coaching and breathwork to help people move through emotional overload, burnout, and feeling stuck.
'Breathwork has been a powerful part of my own recovery.
'It's helped me regulate my nervous system, reconnect with my body, and process the stress I didn't even realise I'd been carrying.
'I now guide others through the same techniques — from business leaders to athletes — helping them find clarity, calm, and resilience before their bodies shout for attention like mine did.'
While Sam's heart issue has been successfully treated, medics regularly monitor her brain tumour.
In spite of everything she's been through, she says she feels lucky.
'That trip to Costa Rica gave me the space and courage I needed; it reminded me what life is about,' Sam adds.
'I came back clearer, braver, and more connected to myself than I'd been in years.
'Now I work as a life coach and breathwork facilitator, helping others reconnect with themselves after big life moments.
'And I am so grateful for my Apple Watch - I don't know what would have happened if it had not gone off.
'I still live with the tumour, but I'm well, managing it, and grateful that technology gave me the early warning I didn't know I needed.'
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