One symptom revealed the tumour that had been growing in my brain for 15 years

When Nicole Cutler was flying from California to Massachusetts in May 2021, she felt her ears pop.

But what followed wasn’t that relief that frequent fliers will be familiar with. Instead, it was silence — she’d suddenly lost her hearing.

‘When my husband tested an AirPod in my right ear and turned it up to the max, I couldn’t hear anything,’ she says.

In a shocking twist, the 28-year-old discovered she had a brain tumour the size of an avocado — and she’d been living with it for a staggering 15 years.

‘When I was told I had a brain tumour, it was the scariest moment of my life,’ Nicole, from Boston, recalls.

‘My whole body shut down, it was the scariest thing you can ever imagine, especially when you’re 22 years old.’

After being diagnosed, Nicole realised that going completely deaf wasn’t the first sign something had been wrong.

‘I was very clumsy growing up,’ she explains. ‘I had broken bones, I have vertigo, and I was losing my hearing.”

But after the incident on the plane, the finance worker booked herself an appointment with an audiologist who sent her for an MRI scan.

‘I had a hearing test, but I couldn’t hear anything,’ she says. ‘My MRI results showed that I had a tumor the size of an avocado pressing on my brain. It was a scary moment — I just wanted to get home to my family.’

Nicole had an operation on July 27, 2021 to remove the mass, but after 12 hours, doctors were only able to remove half of it, as it was wrapped around her facial nerve.

The tumour and subsequent surgery affected her movement, and she became paralysed on the right side for six months — unable to walk and move her right arm.

‘I lost all my balance,’ Nicole adds. ‘I lost my motor function in my right hand, and my face was paralysed on the right side for six months.

‘After I recovered, I went into outpatients where I went to facial therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy for two months.’

Following the operation, a biopsy revealed Nicole had a large acoustic neuroma — a benign tumor that grows on the hearing and balance nerves.

Due to the loss of mobility in her face, Nicole had a second major surgery, a major nerve graft, in August 2024.

It involved taking a nerve from her left foot and leg and putting it on her face. ‘Doctors removed the sensation nerve from my left foot and leg in hopes of rebuilding my smile,’ she explains. ‘That meant learning to walk again for a second time.

‘I also had to go to facial therapy, and had a completely new smile.’

Doctors have said if Nicole’s tumour grows again, they’ll remove it all. But the young woman hasn’t let her health journey slow her down.

After her first surgery, Nicole made a pledge to run all six major marathons across the world for brain tumor awareness.

She ran the Boston, London, Chicago and New York Marathons and is planning on running the Berlin Marathon in September to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

‘I may never get my full smile back, but I’m learning to smile fully with my heart,’ Nicole says. ‘And with each procedure, each mile, and each moment, I’m slowly, steadily working to bring back what was lost.

‘This journey has been brutal. I’ve lost parts of myself — physically, emotionally, spiritually — but I’ve also found something deeper: strength, purpose, and a powerful sense of community.

‘I’m not just running for myself. I’m running for the entire brain tumor community, for patients facing impossible decisions, for survivors rebuilding their lives, for researchers fighting for a cure, and for families who’ve lost someone they love. 

‘I’m fighting for all of us.’

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.