LAUREN Macpherson put her bad memory and mood swings down to ADHD – but it turned out to be terminal brain tumour and docs say she’s only got years to live.

The 29-year-old’s condition was discovered after a heavy case fell from the luggage rack of a train and landed on her head, prompting a hospital trip.

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Lauren Macpherson was travelling home from a music festival in London when a heavy suitcase fell on her headCredit: WNS
 

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She’s struggled with strange symptoms for years before, which she put down to ADHDCredit: WNS
 

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But scans after the incident revealed she had a brain tumour, which turned out to be terminalCredit: WNS
Lauren had been on the train home from a music festival in London when the incident happened, and was taken off the train halfway through her journey home and rushed to hospital due to severe pain.

She suffered instant swelling and doctors feared she may have a fractured spine or concussion.

Scans revealed Lauren, a cardiac physiologist from Cardiff, had a shadow on her brain, which turned out to be a tumour.

She was told she could have as little as 12 months to live.

Being told she had a brain tumour was “almost a relief” to Lauren.

She explained: “You think you’re going crazy, all these things going wrong.

“I would have such bad days where I literally couldn’t get out of bed. Like nobody would understand.”

Doctors initially feared the worst and told Lauren in September 2025 that she may have less than a year to live.

She said: “I just kept saying, ‘just give me my thirties’, I’ll be grateful for anything just as long as I get my thirties and it gives me time to just say goodbye and have a bit of a life.

“That’s all I could think about. I couldn’t think of anything else, it was just get through it, to get through my thirties and that is all.

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Lauren at the music festival before finding out about her tumourCredit: WNS
 

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Lauren’s brain scan – a biopsy revealed she had oligodendrogliomaCredit: WNS
 

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Lauren with partner ZacCredit: WNS
“I couldn’t process two to three years.”

A biopsy revealed she had oligodendroglioma, a rare type of tumour that develops in the glial cells.

Lauren was told the average life expectancy of this kind of tumour is around 10 to 12 years.

In October last year, Lauren had a six-hour awake craniotomy at a private clinic in London, where surgeons were able to remove 80 per cent of the tumour.

The 29-year-old struggled with memory loss afterwards

“I couldn’t speak and didn’t even know how to unlock my phone,” she wrote in a blog post for Brain Tumour Research.

“Slowly, my memory and speech returned. I still can’t read or write properly and I’m undergoing rehabilitation.

“I still search for words during conversation and get headaches, but things are improving.”

She now wants to live life to the full with what time she has left.

Lauren is planning to wed her boyfriend Zac and organising a trip to Italy to mark her 30th birthday.

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Lauren underwent a craniotomy, during which surgeons removed 80 per cent of her tumourCredit: WNS
 

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She was told she has 10 to 12 years to liveCredit: WNS
 

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Zac proposed to Lauren after her diagnosisCredit: WNS
She said: “Right now, it is incurable. There is no remission. There’s no ‘you’ll be fine’.

“No, I’m not gonna be fine, this will be what kills me.

“Right now I’m 29 and yeah I’ve got time, but I’m still looking at being in my forties and dying with brain cancer. That’s still really scary.

“Now, my mindset is more hopeful and positive, realistic even.

“Like for example I’ve just been approved for this new drug, and it’s only come out in the last two years, so this new drug has shown amazing kinds of data.

“That’s just one drug, and it’s completely changed people’s lives already.

“So, I think what could happen in the next ten years that could then take my chances of survival to 15 years and then it’s 20 years, and then before I know it I am living until I’m like 90.

“That is the hope – that even if it’s not curable, it’s pushed and pushed and pushed further away that you can almost live a pretty normal life.

“The whole thing has been hard for me but for family, it’s almost been harder for them.

“I think everyone always says ‘I wish it was me not you’ but I could really see it with them, constantly the pain in their eyes, because they wanted it to be them not me.

“It was really, really, hard, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, having to deal with that.”

Lauren has been raising money for Brain Tumour Research and has already raised more than £2,800 by walking 10,000 steps a day.