AN artist from Cornwall who put her headaches down to “tiredness” was diagnosed with a brain tumour after experiencing troubling symptoms including losing the ability to talk properly.

Leah Jensen, 35, had struggled with headaches and a bad memory but didn’t give much weight to these issues.

Then, in 2020, the sculptor and ceramicist suffered a migraine while working a shift at a pub, before she began to lose her vision.

After Leah became confused and unable to understand what people were saying, an ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital.

Leah underwent tests before being diagnosed brain cancer and undergoing life-saving surgery.

Leah, originally from the Clay Country near St Austell, said: “I was working in a pub in London, between the two lockdowns. I had what I thought was a migraine, but it kept getting worse, then I experienced some weird symptoms with my vision, things started looking pixelated.

"Then I experienced problems with language. I couldn’t understand how to read, then I couldn’t speak - I could only say ‘um’. Then I couldn’t understand people speaking.”

“I felt mortified, I was really embarrassed in the ambulance, I thought it was a drama over nothing. But they scanned me and saw something on my brain.”

Subsequently, Leah was diagnosed with a grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma cancer which had been slowly growing for years.

She said: “I’d been getting headaches for years but I didn’t think much of it – you think you’re tired or you’ve not drunk enough water or something. I’ve had a really bad memory for a long time and difficulty recognising people.”

After the tumour was removed, Leah had radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which she found difficult.

She said: “After all the treatment, there was an area on the scan that they weren’t really able to tell what it was, could be blood, scar tissue or whatever. So, I have regular MRIs to keep an eye on it.

“My doctor said remission is not the most helpful term; they prefer to just say stable. The statistics are pretty bleak. For a high-grade brain tumour, only 13 per cent of people survive five years past diagnosis.”

Leah documented her health journey in a stitched fabric journal that she’s now due to exhibit in London in a show called “Brain Tumour Book – Artist Leah Jensen’s Journey Through Cancer Diagnosis to Treatment”. The exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel will benefit the Brain Tumour Charity

Leah said: “In hospital, I spent all the time I could sewing, because making things and being creative is what I’ve always done. It’s been a bit of a safety blanket.

“The morning I found out I had a brain tumour, the project started. It’s a bit like a sketchbook but also a diary.

“I had a suspicion I wouldn't remember things very well, and I wanted to use this to remember. Sometimes I look at the book and see things I have no memory of; it’s a very visceral way to remember.”