Elizabeth Craig, 55, from Corby in Northamptonshire, discovered she had a brain tumour after a routine eye test at Specsavers in January 2022 revealed vision loss in her left eye. Scans confirmed a low-grade meningioma pressing on her optic nerve. During further hospital tests, a CT scan unexpectedly uncovered breast cancer, leading to a mastectomy, lymph node removal, and radiotherapy. After receiving the all-clear for breast cancer, Elizabeth delayed brain surgery to marry her partner Paul in June 2024. She underwent successful surgery in February 2025 and is now supporting Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of brain tumours.
Elizabeth tells her story…
I went for a routine eye test at Specsavers in Corby in January 2022. I hadn’t noticed anything major, just some blurry vision in my left eye.
During the test, I couldn’t see anything out of that eye at all which raised alarm bells.
I was referred to Kettering General Hospital and sent for an MRI scan. That’s when they discovered I had a mass pressing on my optic nerve. It was diagnosed as meningioma, a brain tumour, and they said it had probably been growing for years.
When they told me, I couldn’t take it in. My immediate thought was that it must be cancer. I felt shocked and completely unprepared. It was too much to take in all at once.
At the time, I’d only been with my partner Paul for about six months. He was incredibly supportive, but I didn’t want to burden him. I’m a private person and didn’t tell many people what I was going through.
During further testing, they sent me for a CT scan at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, just to rule out anything else. That’s when they spotted a nodule in my right breast. More scans followed, and I was referred to the breast clinic. By May 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In just a few months, I went from needing a new pair of glasses to facing two major tumours.
The whole experience was a whirlwind and I felt like my life was spiralling.
In November 2022, I had a mastectomy and lymph node removal. It turned out that the cancer had spread to a few of the lymph nodes, but further scans showed it hadn’t gone anywhere else. I had radiotherapy in June 2023, and after that, I was given the all-clear. That was when I could finally turn my attention back to the brain tumour.
Before the operation, Paul and I made a decision to do something good, something happy. We decided to get married. After so much fear and hospital visits, we needed something joyful to focus on. We got married in June 2024, and it gave me such a lift.
The brain surgery took place in February 2025 at John Radcliffe Hospital. It was a long, complex operation – nearly nine hours – and I was told there were major risks, including paralysis and stroke. The tumour was close to a major blood vessel, so they had to chip away at it slowly and carefully.
Thankfully, the surgery was a success and the tumour was confirmed to be low-grade and non-cancerous.
I was relieved beyond words but the recovery wasn’t easy. My face was bruised, and I had discomfort from where they drilled into my skull. I couldn’t drive, I was off work for months, and I felt utterly exhausted and completely dependent on Paul. But slowly, I’ve been getting stronger. I’ve returned to my job as a care manager, and I’m hoping to get my driving licence back soon.
It’s been a huge journey, physically and emotionally. I’m still processing everything that happened, but I know I’m lucky. So many people don’t survive brain tumours and research into them is still desperately underfunded. Until I was diagnosed, I didn’t even know anyone who’d had one.
Now I’m fundraising for Brain Tumour Research, in the hope we can find a cure.
A friend of mine, Deborah, went through something similar a few years ago and introduced me to this wonderful charity, so I started following their challenges and campaigns online. I wanted to get involved earlier, but after my surgery, I wasn’t strong enough. When I saw the 88 Squats a Day in July challenge, I knew it was the right time.
I’ve been training and building up my strength. Paul’s been helping by filming some of my squats for social media. We’ll be doing it from Malta while we’re away, and I’m aiming to split the squats across the day, doing 44 in the morning and 44 later on. I’ve set a fundraising goal of £500, but honestly, even if people just donate the cost of a coffee, it all helps.
This challenge is more than just physical, it’s about showing that I’m still here, that I’m moving forward, and that I want to be part of the solution. Only 1% of the national cancer research funding goes to brain tumours. That has to change.
I want to help fund the research that gave me a second chance so that others can have one too.
Elizabeth Craig
July 2025
One in three people in the UK knows someone affected by a brain tumour. This disease is indiscriminate; it can affect anyone at any age. What’s more, brain tumours continue to kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet, to date, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002.
Brain Tumour Research is determined to change this.
If you have been inspired by Elizabeth’s story, you may like to make a donation via www.braintumourresearch.org/donate or leave a gift in your will via www.braintumourresearch.org/legacy
Together we will find a cure.
