After headaches began in 2022 and numbness and vision problems worsened in 2024, Allison Pickard was found to have a high-grade cancerous brain tumor. She underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy; scans every 10 weeks now show no sign of it.
An MRI showed severe brain swelling and a tumor in Pickard’s right occipital lobe. She says doctors told her she could die at any moment. Surgeons removed the tumor, and pathology later identified it as high-grade cancer. She completed 30 radiation sessions over six weeks alongside chemotherapy, then continued chemotherapy for six months; her final treatment was in May 2025.
Pickard says the tumor could return and that her own research indicated about 80% of her tumor type recurs within the first two years. She will continue scans every 10 weeks until next May; if all goes well, they will move to every 12 weeks. Her life is otherwise back to normal, though she takes medication for focal seizures that began after surgery.
