Mum, 34, sues NHS after being given chemotherapy for 11 years to treat brain cancer she DIDN’T have

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A MUM is taking legal action against the NHS after receiving 11 years of gruelling chemotherapy for cancer she never had.

Becky Jones, 34, claims she was diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma brain tumour in 2012, after experiencing severe migraines.

A glioblastoma is one of the deadliest forms of brain tumour and strikes around 3,000 Brits each year.

Becky, then 21, said she was told she had between just six and 12 months to live and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire rushed her into treatment before biopsy results had been properly investigated.

The mum-of-two spent more than a decade taking chemotherapy drug temozolomide (TMZ), undergoing radiotherapy and living under the shadow of a terminal diagnosis.

But, now experts have told her that she never had cancer but tumefactive demyelination, an inflammation of the brain which could have been treated with steroids.

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Lawyers have claimed that Becky’s prolonged chemotherapy exposed her to unnecessary risks and side effects.

Recalling her diagnosis she said: “I had a scan in December 2012 that showed some form of mass, so it was decided I needed a brain biopsy, but the results were lost.

“I was transferred to UHCW and they decided glioblastoma grade 4 without seeing the results.

“When the results came back it was either a lesion, an infection or a tumefactive demyelination.

“But instead of going ahead with the investigative work, they went straight into chemotherapy.”

Professor Ian Brown allegedly told Becky she would be infertile for life and prescribed TMZ indefinitely.

She began a week of chemotherapy before six weeks of radiotherapy, before being placed back on TMZ.

Becky said: “I was initially told I would live six to 12 months and would never be able to have children.

“I was told if I didn’t keep taking the chemotherapy I would die.”

She added: “The tumefactive demyelination is on the differential diagnosis, so it could have been solved within a few weeks.”

Becky estimates she endured 156 cycles of chemotherapy and says the treatment left her suffering nausea, fatigue, depression, anxiety, ulcers, stomach pain and possible early menopause.

She said: “I was receiving treatment for 11 years, around 156 cycles chemotherapy.

“I had nausea, fatigue, depression and I was anxious all the time and had ulcers.

“I had stomach pains and constipation, and there’s a possibility that I’ve gone into early menopause.”

Becky said that the treatment also robbed her of career opportunities.

Her driving licence was revoked for two years and she says she was unable to pursue ambitions of joining the police.

She said: “I wanted to go into the police, but I couldn’t do that.

“I was wanting to become an officer on the front lines but because of my biopsy, I was told I couldn’t join.”

The mum says the diagnosis also devastated her personal life.

She was warned food poisoning could be dangerous because of chemotherapy, stopped attending family events and unnecessarily shielded during the Covid pandemic.

The cruellest blow, she added, came when her own mum was diagnosed with cancer.

Becky said: “At times when I didn’t need to be locked in home with cancer I didn’t have, I could have spent time with her instead – which is hard.”

Despite being told she would never have children, Becky later gave birth naturally to two youngsters after pausing chemotherapy.

After years of clear MRI scans, Becky finally began questioning her diagnosis in 2025.

She had stopped taking TMZ in March 2024 after receiving a phone call informing her that the treatment would cease following Professor Brown’s retirement.

She said: “I’d asked them before if I had a brain tumour, but I believed everything they said to me.

“They said the chemotherapy was keeping me alive, and I believed them, why not.”

Following expert reviews arranged by law firm Brabners, Becky was told that her biopsy findings were consistent with tumefactive demyelination.

She said: “I found out over a teams conference with my clinical experts two weeks ago that I didn’t have a tumour.

“It had been expected but until someone tells you you’ve never had cancer that’s when it really hits you.”

In a separate interview with the BBC, Becky also said “he’s just ruined my life, essentially,” adding that her concerns over not being able to see the tumour in scan results were dismissed as the consultant said it would not be “visible to the naked eye”.

Earlier this month, preliminary findings of a review by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found that patients at the Coventry hospital were routinely given prolonged courses of the drug with “little or no evidence of benefit”.

It found staff failings at the hospital amounted to a “betrayal of patient trust” and also questioned why oncology pharmacy teams did not challenge patients receiving oral chemotherapy continuously for 10 to 15 years.

Becky said: “I just want answers from the trust as to why he was able to run his show for so long without anyone checking up on him.

“There were so many people involved.

“I want him held accountable for what he has done, I want him behind bars. I’m not the only one.”