Deirdre Jackson had been left devastated by the death of her 28-year-old niece, then received the same life-threatening diagnosis herself.
The 58-year-old from Westhill can still remember the phonecall from her mother-in-law describing the shocking news.
Deirdre, and husband Neil, were told how niece Joanne Ellis had been hospitalised with a severe headache and an inability to see, with an MRI scan revealing a brain tumour.
The pair had been left “totally shocked,” with Deirdre adding: “Joanne was fit, she did lots of running and aerobics, she had a good sense of humour, and she loved life.
“She was in good health.”
Joanne was quickly booked in for an operation but surgeons were unable to remove the whole tumour, leaving her requiring chemotherapy and steroids.
Then tragedy struck when her tumour returned in a much more aggressive form – increasing in severity from grade two to the highest level, grade four
Following another surgery, Joanne went completely blind. Fifty-one weeks after her first diagnosis, she died from her illness.
‘I’d been having daily headaches’
Seven years later, in 2008, Deirdre began suffering from constant headaches.
The mum-of-three also started noticing large changes in her mood and general ability to manage daily life.
“My organisational skills were getting worse, I never knew what to cook for the children, and I was becoming very bad tempered,” she said.
“If I sat down, I would invariably fall asleep.”
That October, Deirdre spoke to her doctor who thought she was depressed and prescribed her daily tablets.
But with a gut feeling something else was wrong, she sought out a second opinion who offered her an MRI scan.
In December 2008, Deirdre travelled south to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where she was told she had a brain tumour. Doctors thought it had been growing inside her head slowly for a decade.
However, her initial reaction to the news was not what many would expect.
“I was actually delighted to get a diagnosis,” she revealed.
“It meant there was an explanation for me sleeping so much, not knowing what to cook, and my poor mood.
“It meant I wasn’t going mad.”
‘I don’t want others to go through this’
Deirdre’s operation proved a success with the entire tumour removed.
She has since returned to her “normal self” without the assistance of any medication, and knows she is “very fortunate” to have survived the ordeal.
“Joanne’s mum, Diane, has never recovered from the death of her daughter,” she explained.
Deirdre has set herself a challenge to complete 100 star jumps in a day to raise money for charity Brain Tumour Research.
She added: “I’m taking on the star jumps challenge to raise money so other people don’t go through what she has been through.”
In the UK alone, 16,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every year.
Just 12% survive beyond five years of their diagnosis, according to stats from Brain Tumour Research.
Deirdre is fundraising for the cause via Facebook, and has received more than £100 in donations so far.