Archive · 18 Aug 2026
Mother's 'Pins and Needles' Dismissed as Injury Was Glioblastoma
A lady named Bryony Hill started having headaches and felt like her skull was bumpy.
Doctors first thought she had migraines and gave her medicine for that.
Later, her ankle hurt a lot, and doctors thought it was an old sports injury.
But she kept feeling a tingly 'pins and needles' feeling that spread up the right side of her body.
One day she had a seizure at home and had to be rushed to the hospital.
There, doctors used a special machine called an MRI to take pictures of her brain.
The pictures showed she had a brain tumour called glioblastoma, a very serious kind of brain cancer.
The tumour grows fast and is hard to treat, and doctors often use surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Her story shows how important it is for doctors to check symptoms closely, even when they look like common problems.
Bryony Hill, a 40-year-old mother of five, was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
Her symptoms began in September 2025 with headaches and a feeling her skull was 'lumpy,' initially treated as migraines.
Severe right ankle pain was dismissed as tendonitis linked to a rock climbing injury from 18 years earlier.
Tingling in her right foot worsened and spread up the right side of her body before a seizure on May 21 led to an emergency MRI.
Glioblastoma is the most common malignant primary brain tumour in adults, and in most cases there is no clear cause.
- Who
- Bryony Hill, a 40-year-old mother of five, who was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma.
- What
- A brain tumour called grade 4 glioblastoma was found after symptoms such as headaches, ankle pain and tingling were initially dismissed as migraines or tendonitis.
- When
- From September 2025 to May 2026; a seizure on May 21 led to the emergency diagnosis.
- Where
- At her home, where the seizure occurred, and in hospital, where she had A&E visits, an MRI and a biopsy.
- Why
- Her symptoms worsened and spread up the right side of her body, prompting an MRI that revealed the aggressive tumour.
- Patient
- Bryony Hill, 40-year-old mother of five
- Diagnosis
- Grade 4 glioblastoma (glioblastoma multiforme)
- First symptoms
- Headaches and a 'lumpy' skull feeling from September 2025
- Earlier misdiagnoses
- Migraine medication; tendonitis linked to an old rock-climbing injury
- Seizure date
- May 21, 2026
- How diagnosed
- Emergency MRI followed by biopsy
- Tumour type
- Most common malignant primary brain tumour in adults
- Known risk factors
- Older age, prior high-dose radiation to the head, rare inherited genetic conditions