Witney woman battling nine brain tumours
"My daughter collected me from the hospital, and we just held each other and cried."Lucy Marshall survived melanoma but says she was "devastated" when she discovered the cancer had metastasized into nine brain tumours.The mother-of-two, who is 65, and from Witney, Oxfordshire, had an MRI scan when she began experiencing confusion and difficulty speaking.She has since had surgery and her remaining tumours are stable, but has learned to "cherish every moment" with loved ones and "to focus on what really matters".
Lucy was living a "busy and fulfilling life" with her daughters, Izobel and Eliza, but in February 2021 it became clear something was wrong."I tried to take a meter reading, but I kept mixing up the numbers," she explains."Then I was at work when I suddenly couldn't string a sentence together."She adds: "After an MRI at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, I was given the devastating news. I had survived melanoma in 2017, only for it to return and spread to my brain."The scan revealed three metastasized brain tumours, and further tests uncovered six more.Surgery removed a tumour above her left ear in March 2021, and she underwent Gamma Knife radiotherapy at a specialist hospital in London, which uses focused radiation to treat tumours. But complications arose during her treatments, including meningitis, severe colitis, covid pneumonitis, and having to be put into an induced coma following a medical emergency at home.
'Long road'
"There were moments when I didn't think I would make it," she says."My daughters had to watch me fight for my life, and that was the hardest part. "I remember waking up in the ICU, surrounded by my family, and feeling so grateful to still be here. "But it's been a long road. I've had to learn to live with the uncertainty of my condition and the ongoing challenges it brings."Lucy now takes medication for epilepsy following a severe seizure after her surgery, and experiences headaches, nausea, and fatigue. But she walked 10,000 steps a day throughout February in aid of the Brain Tumour Research charity after she "realised how underfunded brain tumour research is"."This experience has completely changed my outlook on life," she says.
Carol Robertson, national events manager at the charity, said: "Stories like Lucy's highlight the urgent need for more funding into researching brain tumours.. we are incredibly grateful to Lucy for her efforts in raising awareness and funds."
Brain tumour statistics
About 12,000 people are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour each yearBrain tumours kill more children than leukaemia, more women under 35 than breast cancer, and more men under 70 than prostate cancerJust under 13% of those diagnosed survive beyond five years compared with an average of 54% across all cancersOne percent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours since records began in 2002Source: Brain Tumour Research
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