'Scans found a brain tumour when I broke my wrist'

'Scans found a brain tumour when I broke my wrist'

Lee Bottomley - West Midlands

Fri, December 12, 2025 at 5:34 PM UTC

2 min read

Two women stand close together, one has an arm around the other. The woman on the left has bobbed blonde hair, the woman on the right has dark hair — Hannah Munday's mum Alison Whybrow (left) fell unconscious for six hours with the pain of a wrist fracture, so medics ordered scans. [Brain Tumour Research]

A woman who broke her wrist learned she had a brain tumour after medics ordered scans when pain from the fracture led to her falling unconsciousness for hours.

Alison Whybrow, 59, from Stoke-on-Trent, went to hospital after falling at home in 2022, with CT and MRI scans revealing she had a low-grade meningioma behind her right eye.

She now has routine annual scans at Royal Stoke Hospital to monitor the tumour's growth, which may require surgery in future.

Her story emerged as her family sought to raise awareness of such conditions on behalf of the Brain Tumour Research charity, with daughter Hannah Munday saying: "If mum had not broken her arm we would never have known she had a brain tumour."

The charity said more than 100,000 people in the UK were thought to be living with a brain tumour or the long-term impact of their diagnosis, but research had been chronically underfunded.

Since her mum's diagnosis, each Christmas felt more precious than the last, Ms Munday said, adding they had learned not to take anything for granted.

The 29-year-old said her mum and stepdad had initially tried to shield the family from the worry as the tumour was non-cancerous.

She said she was left shocked when she overheard a phone call between her mum and a doctor, but was later relieved to find everything was stable.

The 1.5mm low-grade meningioma that Ms Whybrow was found to have is the most commonly diagnosed brain tumour in adults, according to Brain Tumour Research.

'Indiscriminate'

Stories like this were a powerful reminder of how indiscriminate brain tumours could be, said the charity's community development manager Letty Greenfield, stressing the illness could affect anyone at any age.

"I hope that Hannah and Alison's story inspire others to donate to our Christmas Appeal."

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'Scans found a brain tumour when I broke my wrist'

'Scans found a brain tumour when I broke my wrist'

'Indiscriminate'

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