Student, 20, who thought headaches were due to exam stress discovered shock cancer diagnosis
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: SWNS
A university student who put her headaches down to exam stress was later diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.
Annelise Donelon, 20, known as Annie, went to her doctor several times and doctors initially put her symptoms down to a B12 deficiency.
But injections didn't help and the chemical engineering student said her headaches got worse until they felt 'like a bandsaw' was being cut down one side of her face.
Finally a CT scan revealed a 5cm high-grade brain tumor inside one of the fluid-filled cavities in her brain. The pressure was the cause of her headaches.
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The Newcastle University student had surgery to remove most of the tumor, followed by six weeks of radiotherapy, during which she lost all her hair.
Speaking about what she's gone through, her mom, 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."
Annie first began complaining of tiredness and headaches in late 2024 and got worse in October 2025, despite trying different migraine medications and hormone treatments.
Lisa said: "She knew in herself that something wasn’t right."
A second visit to the emergency room finally led to a diagnosis.
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 had a 11-hour craniotomy to remove the tumor at Salford Royal Hospital on October 22. It was buried deep in her brain so she had a six-week course of radiotherapy.
Follow-up scans haven't been able to confirm if the tumor has been eradicated, her family claim. So now they are looking into clinical trials and other private international treatments they say are not available on the NHS in the UK, which they hope will help Annie 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."
She had molecular profiling completed at a private clinic in London, visited a hospital in Paris for targeted molecular therapy, and she is due to begin immunotherapy treatment in Germany.
The immunotherapy treatment aims to make a vaccine specifically personalised to a person's cancer - but is still being trialled and is not yet available on the NHS.
The family are continuing to fundraise £100,000 (around $135,400) they say she needs for the immunotherapy treatment. You an find Annie's fundraiser here.
When recovered, Annie plans to switch course to study biochemistry so she can go into clinical science to study future treatments for conditions like hers.
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.