Mum who learnt to walk again after brain tumour takes on 10K steps a day challenge for charity
Video report by ITV Wales journalist Jess Main
Every day in the UK, 16,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour.
In June 2020, Jess Jones from Llanelli was one of them.
The 38-year-old mum of three says receiving her diagnosis was "petrifying".
"My instant reaction was just to burst into tears", she told me.
"When you hear those words, you don't really hear anything else that the doctor tells you. It was scary, I was on my own, and I didn't know what to expect and what the future held for me."
Jess, who has three daughters, Ella, Emily and Lily, first started experiencing hearing loss and tinnitus in 2019 and later suffered with headaches.
It wasn’t until June 2020 that she went to the GP to get her hearing and headaches checked.
She was given migraine tablets and told to go back if the problem persisted.
A few days later, her headaches worsened, and after several scans and tests she received the devastating diagnosis that she had an Acoustic Neuroma - a type of tumour found in the inner ear.
She said: "I guess like many people I'd always heard of other people getting brain tumours but never ever expected it would happen to me."
In January 2021, Jess underwent a gruelling 13-hour operation, where surgeons removed a section of her skull from behind her ear, and successfully took out most of the tumour.
The procedure left her with permanent hearing loss on her right side, and following the surgery, she had to learn to walk again.
It took six months, but Jess says she never gave up.
"I've always been a positive person, I've got fantastic friends and family around me, and I knew they'd get me through it, whatever the outcome of the surgery."
Just a year on, and she's taking part in 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge to fundraise and raise awareness for Brain Tumour Research to help find a cure for the devastating disease.
She said: “I’m taking part in this challenge because without the years of medical research undertaken my outcome and life could have been so different. I will be eternally grateful to the neuro team and to all those who have undertaken research into brain tumours whose dedicated work has allowed me to carry on with my life.”
The challenge will see her complete 270,000 steps - the equivalent of walking up Snowdon 196 times.
Key statistics on brain tumours:
Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer
Historically, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours
In the UK, 16,000 people each year are diagnosed with a brain tumour
Brain tumours kill more children than leukaemia
Brain tumours kill more men under 70 than prostate cancer
Brain tumours kill more women under 35 than breast cancer
Less than 12% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers.
Jess's husband Mark told ITV News that she was "breathtaking."
"Twelve months ago it was extremely hard and seeing her do this a year later is amazing, the determination she's had since the beginning of all this is just breathtaking. She's inspirational to everyone else", he added.
Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK.
It also campaigns for governments and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure.