Bryony Hill: Mum diagnosed with terminal brain cancer after doctors blamed symptoms on old climbing injury

A mum-of-five says doctors initially put her worsening pins and needles down to an old rock climbing injury before scans revealed an aggressive, incurable brain tumour spreading through her brain like a “spiderweb”.

Bryony Hill first sought medical help in September 2025 after experiencing headaches and noticing what she described as a “lumpy skull”.

She says she was prescribed medication for migraines.

A month later, the stay-at-home mum developed severe pain in her right ankle and went to A&E.

Ms Hill had broken the same ankle while rock climbing 18 years earlier and still has screws in place from the injury.

She claimed doctors believed the pain was tendonitis and sent her home with crutches and medication, Mirror reported.

“I went to the doctors last year and I had quite a few headaches and I just went and spoke about that and I did mention while I was there that I felt like I had a lumpy skull,” she said.

“I mentioned it to my doctor at the time and he prescribed me some medication because I was having migraines. I’ve got an older break in my ankle from 18 years ago so on my right side I have screws in my ankle.

“I randomly had a really bad pain on my ankle and I couldn’t walk on it so I went to the doctors about it in A&E. They just thought it was tendonitis and they were like ‘oh well have some crutches, take some medicine but we can’t really see any problems.’”

By April 2026, Ms Hill began experiencing a tingling sensation in her right foot. Instead of improving, the pins and needles progressively travelled further up the right side of her body.

“It was April this year I got a tingling in my foot. It just started to feel tingly and I had already given it four weeks (since the A&E visit) before coming into the doctors.

“The tingling was just getting worse and I mentioned (to doctors) that I’d got a previous fracture, I’d been treated for tendonitis. The doctor decided to book me in for an MRI.”

According to the NHS, tendonitis occurs when the tissue connecting muscle to bone becomes inflamed, often following an injury, causing pain and stiffness.

Symptoms of brain tumours can differ depending on their location, but progressive weakness or paralysis affecting one side of the body can be a warning sign.

As Ms Hill waited for her MRI, her symptoms became so severe that she stopped driving because she could no longer properly feel her leg.

“If I dropped something on the floor, I wouldn’t be able to feel it because all I was getting was pins and needles. It was just getting worse and further up my body.

“It got to a point where I had to stop driving for safety reasons because I was like ‘I can’t feel my leg.’ My husband had arranged for us to go on holiday for May half term for my 40th birthday.”

Her husband, James Hill, 42, had organised the getaway to celebrate her milestone birthday. But on May 21, the day before they were due to leave, their plans were shattered.

“We were going to go the next day so on May 21 I went to bed that night, I woke up in the early hours to ambulance men around my head and I was coming in and out of consciousness because I had no idea what had happened and I had had a seizure. Then they discovered that I’ve got the tumour.”

An emergency MRI revealed a brain tumour. Ms Hill says doctors initially believed it was grade two, but a subsequent biopsy delivered the devastating diagnosis of stage four glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer that can grow rapidly and infiltrate surrounding brain tissue, making it particularly difficult to treat.

Ms Hill, from Selston in Nottinghamshire, says her tumour is inoperable because rather than forming one removable mass, it spreads through her central nervous system in a pattern she likens to a spiderweb.

“The type that I have is more like a spiderweb so it diffuses into your central nervous system so it wants to spread out like spiderwebs rather than being a removable chunk. It’s not really anything you can poke around and do too much with because of the location.

“It’s grade four and there is only so much they can do for that. It looks like a grade two on the outside but internally it’s a grade four. They can’t take it out, it’s the worst type, it’s the most aggressive. It just happened so fast.

“There’s just so much I can’t do, even just playing with my daughter. I can’t get up and run to her.”

With the cancer incurable, Ms Hill’s family has launched a fundraiser in the hope of accessing alternative treatment abroad that could give her more time with her five children.

“My husband is on the internet every day trying to find anything and everything that can prolong life as much as possible. I’ve got five children that I’ll be leaving behind, time is very precious, any extra time is huge.”

An NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board spokesperson, speaking on behalf of the GP surgery, said, “We are unable to discuss individual cases, to protect patient confidentiality.

“We would encourage all patients to make contact with the practice to discuss any concerns they may have about their care.”