Five-year-old Phoebe Carpenter was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma in May 2026 after suffering from headaches and vomiting for three months. The symptoms were initially thought by her GP to be caused by migraines but a trip to the opticians resulted in Phoebe being sent straight to A and E. Phoebe underwent a 10-hour operation to remove the tumour and, within three weeks, she had returned to school, initially for a few days before doing four days by the end of term. Phoebe’s mum, Katie Nicholls, recently took on the 88 Squats in July challenge to raise vital funds for Brain Tumour Research.
This is Phoebe’s story, as told by her mum, Katie…
Phoebe is a lovely cheeky little girl. Everyone describes her as being so fun loving and really confident.
She is super clever and is really into her tap dancing, but she hasn’t been able to do that so much because of her diagnosis.
In February, Phoebe got sent home from school because she'd vomited. When I picked her up, she was complaining of a severe headache and, by the time I got to the car, she was fast asleep.
That then happened a couple more times, but at Easter time it became a bit more frequent. She was vomiting and complaining of headaches, or she'd complain of having a headache, and if we didn't catch the headache in time, it would make her vomit.
We took her to the GP; she suggested that Phoebe was suffering from migraines and told us to keep a log for a couple of months to see if there were any triggers.
I decided to get Phoebe’s eyes tested because my eldest son, Kieran, 13, wears glasses and I wear glasses. I thought she may have eye strain which was causing the headaches.
We went to Specsavers on the 17th of May. I was quite alarmed at how bad Phoebe’s eyesight was at first. The optician also did some photographs of the back of her eyes; when he came back, he said "I can either send you to A and E now, or we can make an urgent referral that you need to be seen this week”.
I thought there wasn’t any point in wasting A and E's time, so I opted for an urgent referral.
When we were on our way home, the optician phoned me, saying he had spoken to his senior and now wanted Phoebe to go straight to A and E.
I still felt like we were probably wasting Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s time because Phoebe was running around playing like normal but, looking back, she was probably the sickest kid there.
After they did a CT scan, I was told that Phoebe had a brain tumour. I fell apart and just sobbed and sobbed.
I kept thinking, how am I going to tell her dad and our other children? I kept asking if Phoebe would survive but the doctors said they were unable to answer that at that time which is the worst thing in the world as a parent.
Phoebe had a drain inserted to relieve the pressure on her brain caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid, known as hydrocephalus. The following day, she underwent a resection in which most of the tumour was removed during a 10-hour procedure. It was confirmed that the brain tumour was a pilocytic astrocytoma.
Phoebe is amazing. She went back to school three weeks after her operation. She did a few hours at first, then she went back for a few days; by the end of term she had done a full week. She now wears glasses which are mega strong but she's very comfortable wearing them.
Thankfully, Phoebe hasn't lost any of her cheeky character. She's still the same as she was – she’s probably even a little bit cheekier now.
Being told Phoebe had a brain tumour was the worst feeling in the world but now we just feel so incredibly lucky because it could have been a whole different story. She could have needed to have treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, but she didn’t need that. If it's just that she now has bad eyesight and wears glasses, then so be it.
We are hopeful that this is the end of it but we have seen just how quickly your life can change.
I recently completed Brain Tumour Research’s 88 Squats in July challenge to raise vital funds and awareness for the disease.
I just felt like I needed to do something to give back after the amazing care Phoebe received. We just feel so lucky. Funding for research into brain tumours is so important because this really could happen to anyone. You never think something like this will happen to you, but it does.
Katie Nicholls
August 2026
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 Phoebe’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.
