A 65-year-old grandmother from Lincoln, England, died in March 2024 from an aggressive brain tumor after her early symptoms were initially attributed to depression, her family has shared.
Pamela Cook first began feeling unwell in the fall of 2023, experiencing dizziness, headaches and increasing forgetfulness, according to British charity Brain Tumour Research.
“There were no clear signs that anything was wrong at first,” her daughter, Clair Bowkett, said in a news release on the charity’s website. “Mum had always been a bit forgetful. We used to laugh when she called everyone’s names before finally getting to the right one.”
It was in September 2023 that things began to noticeably change. Cook started to feel “dizzy, tired, and low in confidence.”
“She went to the doctor, who said it was depression and prescribed antidepressants,” Bowkett recalled. “When she didn’t improve, she went back, but they told her to give the tablets more time.”
Not long afterward, a frightening moment made it clear something more serious was happening.
“She followed my stepdad, Dave, downstairs one evening and forgot why she was there,” Bowkett said. “She was frightened, and that was when he realised something wasn’t right.”
Cook’s husband took her to the emergency department, where she underwent an MRI scan.
“In the early hours of the morning, I got a call to say they had found a tumour in Mum’s brain,” Bowkett said.
Doctors started Cook on steroids to reduce swelling. “For a little while it felt like we had her back,” Bowkett said.
But the family soon received the devastating news that Cook had glioblastoma, an aggressive and fast-growing brain tumor. According to the Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma is a type of cancer that begins as a growth of cells in the brain or spinal cord.
“Mum had surgery at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in November 2023,” Bowkett said. “The surgeons managed to remove a large part of the tumour but not all of it. She started six weeks of combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy over Christmas and into the new year.”
“It was brutal,” she continued. “She became weak, developed infections, and was admitted to hospital several times.”
In February 2024, the family learned that another tumor had grown back in the same place.
“Doctors told us there was nothing more they could do,” Bowkett said. The family chose to bring Cook home to be cared for surrounded by loved ones.
After celebrating her birthday, Cook’s health declined rapidly. She began having seizures and eventually lost her speech and mobility.
She died on March 24, 2024, just 10 days after her daughter’s birthday.
“It is so hard to make sense of how fast it all happened. She went on a cruise in August 2023, looking perfectly well, and by March she was gone,” Bowkett said. “Glioblastoma is such a cruel and invasive disease. It strips a person of everything: their movement, speech, and independence, piece by piece.”
In November, Bowkett took part in the 99 Miles in November challenge to support the Nottingham Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, which is set to launch next year.
“My goal is to get the whole of Lincoln involved. My husband Ben, my son Marley, and my sisters are all joining in,” she said. “We will walk together for Mum, remembering her the way she would want to be remembered, full of life and laughter.”
