Mother who beat breast cancer discovers years later disease has moved to brain during ‘vertigo’ treatment

A Wigan mother who was given the all-clear after battling triple-negative breast cancer discovered the disease had spread to her brain after doctors initially believed she had symptoms as vertigo.

Carrie Howard, 43, celebrated beating cancer in 2023 after undergoing a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Scans from her neck down showed no signs of the disease, and she felt "like life could begin again."

Almost two years later, in December 2024, recurring headaches and balance issues led her to visit her GP three times. She was repeatedly prescribed medication for vertigo, but her symptoms persisted.

Finally, at Wigan Hospital A&E, doctors revealed the devastating news: her cancer had returned and spread to her brain, progressing from stage three to stage four.

Now, Carrie's family are fundraising for alternative treatments to prolong her time with her husband, James, 43, and their two sons, Theo, 14, and Ruben, 10.

“When I rang the bell thinking I had beaten cancer, it felt like a weight lifted and life could begin again,” Carrie said.

“We thought the chemo had mopped up cancer anywhere else in the body and I was cancer-free.

“But the brain tumour was there all along.

“It was very hard having to sit the boys down again and say ‘mummy has to go through more treatment’.

“If I knew at the time, I would have had a private MRI scan to check my entire body.”

Carrie’s health ordeal began in July 2022 when she noticed a pea-sized lump in her left breast while putting on her pyjamas.

At Wigan Hospital, an MRI scan from the neck down confirmed that she had stage three triple-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive and faster-spreading type compared to others.

The cancer was also detected in her lymph nodes but doctors assured her it was treatable and immediately initiated a six-month course of chemotherapy.

“It was a shock,” Carrie said.

“I thought they would run some tests and send me home but they said the chemo would mop it up and rid me of it.

“It was brutal – I lost my hair, my eyelashes, my eyebrows – but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and was fighting to beat it.”

In January 2023, Carrie had a mastectomy on her left breast and radiotherapy to ensure the cancer was gone.

Three months later, another hospital scan from the neck down showed no sign of cancer and she rang the bell to celebrate getting the all-clear.

“It felt worth it,” Carrie said.

“We’d put our lives on hold and now it was over.”

Carrie slowly returned to normality, resuming work, attending football practice with her sons and enjoying a family holiday to Turkey.

In December 2024, she began getting headaches, feeling as though she was going to fall over and veering to the right when walking.

Her GP prescribed Carrie with vertigo tablets on three separate visits until she took herself back to A&E for further tests this February.

“Doctors did an MRI and then took us into a separate room and told us there was a shadow on the scan,” she said.

Further tests revealed Carrie’s triple-negative breast cancer had moved to her brain before chemotherapy and managed to withstand the treatment, she said.

A blood-brain barrier protects the brain from harmful substances in the blood stream, meaning not all chemotherapies are effective.

Doctors diagnosed Carrie with stage four metastatic brain cancer and performed a seven-hour surgery to remove a large tumour from her brain.

Soon after, she underwent targeted radiotherapy to shrink a second, smaller tumour that was trickier to access.

Now the family are awaiting results to find out whether Carrie really is cancer-free.

Husband James Howard, a 43-year-old sales manager, said: “We’re hoping that it’s all been removed and that Carrie gets to ring the bell again.

“But we also have an anxiety of whether it will come up somewhere else.

“Carrie still has a lot of fight in her but you can only withstand so much in one go.”

If Carrie does not get the all-clear, her family are researching alternative treatments and clinical trials in the UK and abroad.

However, options are limited due to there being limited data and people with her type of cancer.

James added: “Wigan Hospital has only treated two other people who had triple negative cancer that moved to the brain so the data just isn’t there.

“We don’t know what comes next so we need to be prepared.”

Best friend Rebecca van der Lee, 41, has launched a GoFundMe page which has so far raised £17,540 towards Carrie’s treatment and recovery.

This includes a fundraising event of live music and karaoke at The Farmers Arms in Bispham, Lancashire, on June 6.

“The support has been amazing, it’s just incredible,” Carrie said.

“Friends are giving support and everyone is rallying together.”

The family is raising awareness of breast cancer, secondary cancers and the importance of checking for lumps regularly.

Carrie is also advocating for full-body scans for patients where cancer has reached the lymph nodes as this often leads to a faster spread.

A link to Carrie’s GoFundMe page can be found here: gofundme.com/f/mhfbw4-carries-cancer-battle

PA has contacted Wigan Hospital for comment.