Fit and healthy young woman, 28, unknowingly lived with brain tumour

A fit and healthy young woman has told of her horror after discovering she had unknowingly lived with a brain tumour for 15 years.

Nicole Cutler, from Boston, was flying from California back to Boston aged 22, when she suddenly lost her hearing in her right ear. 

The now 28-year-old who works in finance immediately booked an appointment with an audiologist after it failed to return upon arrival and was referred for further tests. 

Scan results, however, revealed she had a tumour the ‘size of an avocado’ and claimed medics told her it had likely been growing for 15 years. 

Now, after years of gruelling surgery, radiotherapy and speech and physical therapy, she still undergoes regular scans to check the tumour is stable and hasn’t grown. 

Recalling her terrifying diagnosis, she said: ‘When I was told I had a brain tumor, it was the scariest moment of my life.

‘My whole body shut down, it was the scariest thing you can ever imagine, especially when you are 22 years old.

‘The tumor was growing inside my head for 15 years. I was very clumsy growing up.

‘I had broken bones, I have vertigo, and I was losing my hearing – which all makes sense now.

‘Initially, I thought that my ears had popped, but when my husband tested an AirPod in my right ear and turned it up to the max, I couldn’t hear anything – so we realised something was wrong.’

Nicole said, with hindsight she now realises she had been losing her hearing for some time, but she went totally deaf on the right side in May 2021.

Nicole said: ‘I had a hearing test, but I couldn’t hear anything.

‘My MRI results showed that I had a tumor the size of an avocado pressing on my brain.

‘It was a scary moment—I just wanted to get home to my family.’

Her first surgery in July 2021, saw half of the tumour removed but it left her partially paralyzed on the right side for six months – unable to walk and move her right arm.

Ms Cutler said: ‘I lost all my balance—I couldn’t walk for a while.

‘I lost my motor function in my right hand, and my face was paralyzed on the right side for six months.

‘After I recovered, I went into outpatients where I went to facial therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy for two months.’

After the operation, a biopsy confirmed her tumour was a large acoustic neuroma.

This is a rare type of brain tumour that strikes approximately two in 100,000 people according to the British Acoustic Neuroma Association. 

It is typically slow growing over many years and does not spread to other parts of the body. 

But they can prove fatal if in rare cases, at later stages, cause a life-threatening build-up of fluid in the brain known as hydrocephalus. 

Symptoms include fatigue, vertigo, headaches, single-sided deafness, tinnitus—high pitched ringing in the ears—balance issues and facial weakness/paralysis. 

According to the NHS they tend to affect adults between the ages of 30 and 60. 

And while it says there is usually no obvious cause, a small number of cases are due to a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2).

Due to the loss of mobility in her face, Ms Cutler underwent a major nerve graft in August 2024—taking a nerve from her left foot and leg and putting it on her face.

‘Doctors removed the sensation nerve from my left foot and leg in hopes of rebuilding my smile,’ she said. 

‘That meant learning to walk again—this time, with new limitations.

‘I had to go to facial therapy, but had a completely new smile.’

Now, Nicole is being monitored with regular MRI scans to see if the tumour is growing.

Following her first surgery Nicole pledged to run all six major marathons across the world for brain tumour awareness. 

So far she has run the Boston, London, Chicago and New York Marathons and is planning on running the Berlin Marathon in September to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

‘I may never get my full smile back, but I’m learning to smile fully with my heart. And with each procedure, each mile, and each moment, I’m slowly working to bring back what was lost,’ she said.

‘This journey has been brutal. I’ve lost parts of myself—physically, emotionally, spiritually—but I’ve also found something deeper: strength, purpose, and a powerful sense of community.’