A mother-of-one was told that the numbness and tingling in her arm were simply signs of anxiety – when in reality she had brain cancer.
Kelsey Stoksted, 32, from Wisconsin, US, started experiencing numbness and tingling down her left arm and hand which prompted a visit to the ER.
‘It was very unnerving,’ she recalled. ‘I thought it was heart related so I went to the ER but when I arrived the symptoms stopped – it was very confusing.
‘The doctors thought it could be anxiety-related, which I feel is a common misdiagnosis for women,’ she added.
The stay-at-home mum was prescribed a beta blocker, which work by slowing down the heart and in doing so, relieve the physical symptoms of anxiety.
But the tingling and numbness persisted, resulting in Ms Stocksted suffering a grand mal seizure just four months later.
Also referred to as a tonic-clonic seizure, this type of convulsion can occur when a tumour, benign or cancerous, disrupts electrical activity in the brain.
During a tonic-clonic seizure a patient will lose consciousness before their limbs start to jerk rapidly, known as the clonic phase.
The-mother-of one suffered a grand mal seizure when she was on the phone with her husband Sean (pictured left)
Mrs Stoksted first went to hospital after experiencing numbness and tingling in her arm, which were put down to down to anxiety
Up to 80 per cent of people with a brain tumour will experience seizures.
‘I noticed the numbness and tingling were starting to radiate towards my leg,’ Ms Stoksted recalled.
‘I was on the phone to my husband at the time and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. My husband was screaming, it must have been five minutes where I wasn’t answering.
‘When I came around I was so confused,’ she added.
Her husband, Sean, 33, rushed her to Meriter Hospital where scans revealed a 4cm mass growing on her brain.
Just a few days later, on 17 August 2023, doctors performed a craniotomy, an operation to open the head in order to expose the brain, in which they were able to remove almost all of the tumour which was then sent for biopsy.
Ms Stoksted said: ‘Doctors told me that the numbness and tingling I was experiencing were small seizures. My tumour then got big enough that it was pressing on my brain.’
Less than a month later, the mother-of-one was devastatingly diagnosed with a grade three astrocytoma- a cancerous brain tumour that starts in the supporting cells of the brain and spinal cord.
Mrs Stoksted was told that the seizure was caused by a tumour pressing down on her brain
She was then diagnosed with a grade three astrocytoma – a cancerous type of tumour that starts in the cells supporting the spinal cord and brain
After getting the all-clear, the couple hope to grow their family at the start of next year using IVF
‘I was just in shock,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.
‘I was thinking of my daughter Raya, 3, and how I didn’t want her to grow up without a mum.
‘Initially, they told me my prognosis was three to five years, which was really hard.’
But thankfully after undergoing 33 grueling rounds of radiotherapy with 12 rounds of chemotherapy, which she completed in January 2025, the prognosis was much brighter.
Scans also revealed that the permanent changes to her genes in the brain tumour cells – known as IDH mutant changes – were less aggressive than first thought.
‘We then found out, due to the mutation, my prognosis was 12 to 15 years and when they told us that we were so happy.’
She added: ‘This is all still really hard but I am grateful to be here and hopeful in my journey.’
Ms Stoksted then underwent egg retrieval for IVF, just incase she and her husband want to have another child in the future.
The Wanted star Tom Parker died in March 2022 following a year-and-a-half long battle with glioblastoma aged just 33 (pictured in December 2021)
The disease, which is the most common type of cancerous brain tumour in adults, also killed the Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018.
Whilst she has experienced some swelling in her brain since finishing treatment, doctors are confident her scans are stable.
She will now have to have magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRI) every four months to monitor her progress. And if her next scan, on December 8, comes back stable the couple plan to start trying for another baby using IVF.
‘We are so excited, nervous but excited. We will be able to start growing our family from early next year and we can’t wait.’
Cancerous brain tumours are the deadliest form of the disease for children and adults under 40 in Britain — claiming 5,300 lives every year, about 15 every day.
Even benign brain tumours, which unlike cancerous ones don’t spread to other parts of the body, can still be deadly as they grow within the sensitive tissue of the organ.
Over 12,000 patients in Britain are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year, with about half of these cases being cancerous.
Glioblastomas, one of the deadliest types of brain tumour, have been highlighted in recent years after killing a number of famous faces.
Average survival time for glioblastoma is between 12 and 18 months, according to the Brain Tumour Charity. Only five per cent of patients survive five years, it says.
The disease, which is the most common type of cancerous brain tumour in adults, killed the Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018.
And in March 2022, The Wanted singer Tom Parker died following an 18-month battle with the cancer.
