Farren Buckley was living her best life until an unexpected diagnosis turned everything upside down.
The 24-year-old had just returned home to Brisbane after spending 13 months living in London, full of excitement about restarting her life in Australia.
But her world came crashing down when the ‘fit and healthy’ marathon runner received a soul-crushing stage three brain cancer diagnosis.
‘I don’t think anyone can explain this feeling until you experience it. Being handed what felt like a death sentence at 24 is just indescribable,’ Farren told Daily Mail.
‘I couldn’t even cry and it felt like I was forcing myself to let tears out because feeling nothing didn’t feel right. I became a shell of a human.
‘The few days that followed, however, were a deep pit of emptiness, I wanted to give up… I just cried and cried and cried and would scream at anyone who tried to make me feel better.’
Two years before her diagnosis, Farren began experiencing symptoms such as headaches, migraines, fatigue and pins and needles in her left arm.
The signs seemed obvious now – but at the time, she said they were ‘mild’ and only ‘flared up every few months’ so she barely noticed them.
Farren Buckley was living her best life until she was diagnosed with brain cancer at 24
But she knew something was seriously wrong when her left arm would involuntarily fling up in the air.
‘I could always bring my arm down, but for five minutes afterwards, I would have the weirdest sensation in that arm, like it didn’t feel like it belonged to me – almost like a phantom arm feeling,’ she said.
‘I would occasionally have headaches and some double vision in my line of sight but I honestly didn’t think it was anything serious.’
As she was planning to move to the UK, she decided to see a GP as a precaution.
‘My doctor said they didn’t think anything extremely pressing was causing it and to watch it and move to London and enjoy my life,’ she recalled.
Taking her doctor’s advice, she thought there was nothing to worry about so she moved to the UK.
‘The arm thing happened again – maybe three times in the 13 months I was living in London. I was travelling, working, running and going to the gym, and I was seemingly perfectly healthy,’ Farren said.
She moved back to Australia in January 2024, excited to be surrounded by her loving family and friends again.
Her ‘normal’ life was perfect, as Farren described it.
But just a week after running a half-marathon, everything changed.
The 24-year-old had just returned home to Brisbane after spending 13 months living in London, full of excitement about restarting her life in Australia. But three months later, things changed
Her loving partner Jarrod has been one of her biggest supporters during her cancer journey
On April 18, 2024, she woke up at 2.30am with a strange sensation in her arm.
‘The arm thing happened but this time it didn’t stop. I could move my arm down but my shoulder was having a muscle twitch that you couldn’t see but it was so annoying and meant I couldn’t do much,’ she explained.
‘I went to work that morning and my brain and fingers weren’t quite doing what I wanted on the keyboard. I started having strange, almost like stroke sensations on my left side so I decided to go to the Emergency Room.
‘But they believe it was as serious as I was trying to portray.’
She was put down as ‘category five’ on the waiting list, otherwise known as a ‘last priority’.
‘I waited nine hours in hospital with twitching sensations and an insane headache,’ Farren said.
After getting a blood test, she was seen by a doctor but ‘felt very dismissed’.
‘I believe they saw me as a young female and thought there’s no way anything serious could be wrong,’ she said.
‘They were going to send me home but a beautiful resident doctor advocated for me and pushed for me to be seen by neurology.
‘After waiting around, I was finally seen by a neurologist, failed all their tests but was still sent home with an MRI referral and was told “you might be seen within six months and it’ll cost you out of pocket”,’ she claimed.
‘I was sent home with the referral even though I couldn’t feel the left side of my body.’
After she was dismissed by a doctor, she suffered a five-minute seizure the next night. Pictured here being taken to hospital
CT scans found a tumour the size of a squashed lime in her brain
During radiation, Farren lost a lot of hair, which was one of the biggest challenges she faced
The next day, she suffered a seizure that lasted five minutes in front of her sister.
‘If they had given me an MRI, I could have prevented the seizure and trauma that my sister carries from witnessing it,’ Farren said.
After a CT scan found a tumour the size of a squashed lime, she underwent an eight-hour craniotomy – a procedure that involves removing part of the skull to access the brain.
Just two weeks after the surgery in April 2024, she was diagnosed with stage three brain cancer.
‘It was the worst day of my life,’ she said.
‘Accepting cancer and cancer treatment has been hard but it’s something I’ve learnt to come to terms with.
‘The hardest part funnily enough wasn’t even the cancer. It was losing my job and my hair, stopping exercise for eight months, changing my diet, changes in friendships, feeling like a burden to my family, going sober and watching everyone move on with their lives while you feel so incredibly stuck and behind for your age.
‘It’s all the little things that people don’t see and don’t think of.’
So far, she has undergone 12 rounds of chemotherapy and 33 rounds of radiation.
‘I think cancer is a never-ending mountain and even once treatment finishes, nothing will ever be the same and I will never be the same person as I was before and that is a lot to come to terms with in your mid 20s,’ Farren said.
‘I’ve coped in a lot of different ways like therapy, exercise, leaning on my partner Jarrod and best friend Kody.’
She has received three consecutive MRIs showing the tumour is shrinking – but she knows her battle with brain cancer will be a long journey.
‘I will get to the other side, there is no doubt in my mind but the fight is far from over and for the rest of my life, I will have MRIs every three to six months,’ she said.
‘I do a million holistic remedies on top of this that have made me feel so great and like I’m fighting it from every direction.’
Just a week after running a half-marathon, things took a serious turn with her health
Reflecting back on her life, Farren said the one thing she wished she had done differently was push for answers when her symptoms were first dismissed
Right now, the now-25-year-old finds her greatest strength in sharing her cancer experience with like-minded people on social media.
‘The most healing thing for me has been sharing my story on TikTok,’ she explained.
‘I’m connecting with so many other young people who are going through the same thing, who just get it.’
It is estimated that up to 2,000 Australians are diagnosed with brain cancer every year, with the average age of diagnosis being 59 years old.
Reflecting back on her life, Farren said the one thing she wished she had done differently was push for answers when her symptoms were first dismissed.
‘I’m not angry at anyone throughout this journey but I do wish I advocated for myself more,’ she said.
‘I knew it had something to do with my brain and I really should’ve pushed to be heard but at the end of the day I followed and did what I was meant to do.’
When it comes to spotting the early signs of brain cancer, Farren said: ‘You know your body better than anyone else.
‘Look out for muscle weakness or weird movements that are just on one side of your body, vision issues and ongoing headaches,’ she said.
For anyone facing cancer, Farren recommends connecting with life-minded people.
‘Try to find people going through it too,’ she said.
‘I felt so alone until I started speaking to other brain cancer fighters, it’s been the best part of my healing journey.’
