Aberdeen mum told she had a year to live is trying to find a cure for brain tumours eight years on

A mum from Aberdeen who was told she had a year to live due to terminal brain cancer is still searching for a cure, eight years after she was diagnosed.

44-year-old Suzanne Davies is raising awareness for Brain Tumour Research in Scotland to help families living with the disease.

In 2014, after suffering from consistent headaches, the mum-of-two went to see her GP.

She was immediately sent through to A&E at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where she had a CT scan, and was told she had a tumour the size of a golf ball growing on the right side of her brain.

Suzanne underwent surgery where 95% of the tumour was removed, and after feeling better, it was just days later that her consultant told her she had just a year to live.

Recalling that day, she said: “I didn’t want to know about timescales but he told me that I had a year to live and if I had chemotherapy I’d have eight weeks more. That was just over eight years ago.

“There was no way I wanted to leave my kids at that age, they were so young. I didn’t have kids not to bring them up and I continue to be positive.

“I have my days it’s tough, I have seizures and I’ve had falls and I’ve not been able to drive but I just keep going.”

In Scotland, over 1,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every year.

Only 12 per cent of those survive five years on from their diagnoses.

“I remember my consultant telling me to go home to have a normal weekend, but I remember thinking ‘how?” Suzanne added.

“You’ve told me I’ve got a brain tumour and to go home and have a normal weekend?’

“It was awful, my husband and I sat on our sofa that night thinking where do we go from here.

“We were 36 and 42, why were we having a conversation about dying maybe soon?”

Suzanne says her positivity has been key to her survival for so long.

“I never let myself think I wouldn’t still be here. When they first told me I thought about the kids and I broke down. But I remember thinking being that way is not going to help at all.”

She continues to have MRI scans every six months, and her most recent in June showed her tumour was stable.

But she admits her tumour will grow.

Since diagnoses she’s been raising awareness and funds for numerous charities to try and find a cure, not just for herself but for everyone who has been given a diagnoses.

She said: “I get frustrated that there isn’t currently a cure for brain tumours, so more money is needed so more research can be done.”

Hugh Adams, Brain Tumour Research said: “I believe we will get to the stage that the diagnoses of a brain tumour, although difficult, not the death sentence that it can be and well; have more stories like Suzanne’s.”

You can donate to Suzanne’s JustGiving page, here – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Suzanne-Davies25.