A university student who initially blamed her headaches on exam pressure later learned she had a cancerous brain tumor.
Annelise Donelon, 20 — known as Annie — attended multiple appointments, where her symptoms were first attributed to a B12 deficiency.
However, the injections brought no relief. The chemical engineering student said the pain intensified until it felt as though “like a bandsaw” was being cut down one side of her face.
She was eventually sent for a CT scan, which found a 5cm high-grade tumor inside one of the brain’s fluid-filled spaces. The pressure it created was behind the headaches.
Annie, who studies at Newcastle University, underwent surgery to remove most of the mass. She then had six weeks of radiotherapy, and lost her hair during treatment.
Reflecting on the ordeal, her mother, Lisa Donelon, from near Bury, Manchester, UK, said: “She was very tired all of the time, and got the B12 injection, but she didn’t feel any different.
“Then we thought it might be hormones, migraines or stress due to her uni exam period. After the CT scan, I got the call that they had found a lesion – I can’t even describe what that feels like.
“Annie just wants her life back, she wants to go back to university – so we’re always looking for the next trial or treatment.
“There are just no words for what’s happening, you just feel numb – and then you feel angry, then you feel sad.”
The first signs, Lisa said, appeared in late 2024 with tiredness and headaches, before worsening significantly by October 2025. Annie tried a range of migraine medicines and hormone-based treatments, but nothing resolved the problem.
Lisa said: “She knew in herself that something wasn’t right.”
After another trip to the emergency room, doctors finally identified the cause.
Lisa said: “She was in a lot of pain from headaches, caused by pressure. There was a large tumor in one ventricle, which was blocking the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and causing the pressure to build.”
Annie underwent an 11-hour craniotomy at Salford Royal Hospital on October 22. Because the tumor was located deep within her brain, she then completed a six-week course of radiotherapy.
Since then, the family say follow-up imaging has not been able to clearly confirm the tumor has been fully eliminated. They are now exploring clinical trials as well as private treatment options overseas, which they say are not offered by the NHS, in the hope of helping Annie get well enough to return to university.
She said: “We can’t just be sitting around – we need to be doing something. Even though to look at her, you wouldn’t know there was anything wrong, we know how serious it is.”
According to the family, Annie has already had molecular profiling at a private London clinic, travelled to Paris to pursue targeted molecular therapy, and is scheduled to start immunotherapy in Germany.
The immunotherapy approach aims to create a vaccine tailored to an individual’s specific cancer, but it remains in the trial stage and is not yet available through the NHS.
The family say they are continuing to raise £100,000 (around $135,400) to cover the immunotherapy costs, and have set up a fundraiser to support the treatment.
Looking ahead, Annie hopes that once she’s recovered she can move into biochemistry, with the goal of entering clinical science and contributing to research into treatments for conditions like her own.
Lisa said: “It’s Annie’s biggest dream to go back to studying in Newcastle in September – to be with her friends and do the part time job at St. James Park that she loves.
“She’s decided to change to study biochemistry which we and the university fully support.
“This will give her access to careers within Genomic Medicine so that she can make a difference to the much-needed research in this area and can help people like herself get the treatment they deserve.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.