A mom has told how she thought she had early-onset dementia — but it turned out to be brain cancer.
Tracy Kehoe, 57, found herself forgetting she had already completed tasks or conversations, as well as repeating herself, in the spring of 2025.
The concerned mom-of-two, from Salford, Greater Manchester, decided to visit the doctors, worried she might be suffering from early-onset dementia.
She was sent to Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, for what she believed was a routine MRI scan, but was shocked to find out she had a tumor inside her brain.
Following tests, Tracy was diagnosed with a stage four Glioblastoma — an aggressively growing cancer — and was given between six and 18 months to live.
After a debulking operation in August 2025, the school business manager completed radiotherapy and is currently undergoing chemotherapy to control the disease.
Tracy said, “It’s the most devastating thing that’s ever happened in our entire world.
“It absolutely floored us because I’m well. I’ve always been well; I have never really been ill.
“My sister noticed I had been repeating myself and forgetting conversations which is not like me at all.
“A colleague at work noticed as well, saying she noticed I couldn’t remember if I had made phone calls or added an amount of money up or something similar.
“When they told me I had cancer my whole life flashed in front of me, and the fact that we had all our retirement plans.
“We were looking to do long-haul holidays and all these things that my husband and I have worked for all our lives.
“I planned to have a wonderful retirement and then to have that taken away from you, to be told that it could actually be anywhere between six and 18 months.
“That is not what we had planned.”
Her symptoms of forgetfulness began in March 2025.
Tracy said she also began experiencing dizziness, headaches, and finding that her eyesight would occasionally distort.
She said: “Because I’d suffered from migraines and vertigo in the past, I put it down to stress rather than illness — and there had been plenty of stress.
“At the end of December 2024 and heading into the start of 2025, my dad, who is living with dementia, had reached a stage where my mom could no longer manage his care at home, and he moved into a care facility.
“Then in February 2025, my younger sister had a heart attack.
“By April, my mom was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“I convinced myself that my own symptoms were simply my body’s response to the emotional toll of everything happening around us.”
She said the next month, April, she mentioned her concerns to her sister — who doesn’t want to be named — who told her she had noticed she had been repeating herself, and forgetting conversations.
She said, “I remember telling her I was terrified I might be developing early-onset dementia — a fear rooted in family history, as my grandfather died with dementia and my dad now lives with it.
“Hearing her agree that something was wrong made everything feel even more real.
She then booked a GP appointment for May 6, who subsequently arranged for her to undergo an MRI scan on June 28.
Following the scan, doctors sent her to A&E, where she waited several hours and completed further blood tests.
She was later taken into a private room where a doctor completed a neurological exam and gave her the news — she had a brain tumor.
Tracy then went home for two days before attending the Salford Royal Hospital for further exams on July 3, and it was diagnosed as a Glioblastoma — an aggressive brain cancer — with a maximum life expectancy of just under two years.
She then underwent an awake craniotomy — surgery where she would be sedated and then awoken during surgery while they removed the brain tumor, according to the NHS.
She underwent the surgery on August 8, which removed around 95 percent of the tumor.
She said, “My husband and I had built a life around the hope of a long and happy retirement.
“We’d worked since we were 16, raised our children, watched them thrive in their careers, saved diligently, and made plans for long-haul adventures, months in Spain with loved ones, and exploring the UK in a campervan. In one sentence, all of those plans evaporated.”
Now, eight months on, Tracy has completed six weeks of radiotherapy and has now finished four cycles of chemotherapy, with two more to go.
She also said her first post-surgery MRI showed encouraging results, with doctors saying the tumor is only visible microscopically.
Her daughter, Ellie Hutson, 28, was “shocked” by the tragic news and has since channeled her emotions into doing something positive, organizing a sponsored 10km walk to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.
The primary school teacher took on the feat last Sunday, March 22, with a group of around 25 close family and friends, including the very brave Tracy.
The group walked from the Church Club in Prestwich, through to McDonald’s in Radcliffe and back again, dressed in bright red clothing, the colors of the charity.
Ellie, from Salford but now living in Prestwich, said, “It was initially really shocking.
“I think I’m quite a practical person, so when we first thought it was a tumor, I think I went into an organizational mode of ‘what kind of tumor? When will we find out? What are the next steps?
“On the third of July, it was the day after my birthday, we found out that it was basically cancerous and incurable. So that’s when the emotion set in.
“My mom, she’s honestly taking this in her absolute stride.
“One day my mom will pass, I want to be able to look at this time and think we did so many amazing things.”
Her online fundraising page has already gathered an astonishing $13,000.
You can donate here.
