To think something is off here?

Not with Glioblastoma.

A girl in my class at college told us all she had leukemia and we didn't believe her. 6 months after our course ended she passed away aged 18 from leukemia.

I think you are being very unfair researching her condition and calling her out online.
Admittedly I don't have cancer but I've got long term conditions but look well so often am not believed.
Why not actually go and speak to her and actually ask her?
You don't know what her financial situation is, what treatment she's had, you can have stage 4 cancer and be terminal but be stable.

There isn't any staging for glioblastoma but there is grading based on how aggressive the cancer is unlike cancer in other parts of the body which are graded and staged. Systems of classification are similar but also different, so very difficult to make a comparison on the basis of grading as they mean very different things.

But she isn’t doing anything and has said repeatedly she wouldn’t say anything. She is asking for opinion on an anonymous forum. That is the MOST responsible thing to do if you would like some opinion to either validate or refute your curiosity.

I think you’re right. Certainly my friend, now sadly widowed, who I supported more recently was told stage 4. She couldn’t get past that information at all and kept repeating it. So deeply distressing. Of course I apologise if the information presented to me (on repeat) was incorrect. What I didn’t expect was the cruel words and accusations levelled at me by the poster to whom you refer.

Regardless of all of it, this is such a horrific and cruel cancer and having witnessed it twice in the last few years, I still find it hard to fathom that the person OP describes at her work, does indeed have this diagnosis. If she hasn’t, it makes a mockery of the suffering endured by those diagnosed with glioblastoma.

Not grade 4 glioblastoma. im sorry but no, im a surgeon, i also have stage 4 sarcoma and i look ok, however i did a neurosurgery rotation for a year and i can categorically say that grade 4 glioblastoma treatment is not gentle or about quality of life, its so aggressive you cant not treat it with everything you have

Some 15 yeara ago I worked in a large city centre supermarket. One of my colleagues told us one of her daughters was terminally ill... of course we all rallied round. Then the daughter died. Again we all rallied round. A few months after this happened she told us her other daughter had the same illness. Repeat the above. She also died. We rallied round. Did collections and fund rasing events.

Then one night some colleagues were out in town and saw the 2 (dead not dead) girls. They asked how they were. Etc etc. No mention of any illness and they certainly weren't dead.

Funny how the mother never turned up for work again. ....

No not in brain tumours. Usually they’re differentiated by Grades not stages so stage 4 would mean grade 4 as in extremely fast growing

@Muddlingalongsomehow is correct.

Glioblastoma is defined by grade, not stage. Maybe other people who have loved ones with glioblastoma (like myself) misheard or misunderstood the terminology. Being in that room and trying to take everything in can be confusing and things can be misunderstood, we were encouraged to record meetings with the consultant for this very reason.

Or it could be that the consultant did mistakenly say stage instead of grade, but I can categorically say that stage is incorrect.

I am sorry to everyone on this thread who has also lost a loved one to glioblastoma

@Thegirlinthegreenscarf its none of your business. Your job is to mind the business that pays you.

If you do anything with your suspicion (as you’re doing now) and it comes out that she has been sick this whole time. That is harassment and I’d imagine your job would be on the line.

So respectfully face your front and mind your business

My mum and my brother both died in their 60s from a gliablastoma multiforma brain tumour. They both died two months after their diagnosis, although symptoms weren’t picked up at first. It’s a horrible, aggressive tumour. They both started losing function after their diagnoses and the decline was rapid.

My relatives brain cancer (glioblastoma) was simply described in the histology report following the biopsy as ‘high grade’

I don't think you are covering all of the reasons for your suspicions. It may be a question of maintaining brevity, or it may be that you haven't examined your memories to identify all the indications. But would you suddenly suspect someone you otherwise have always found to be credible and honest? I'll guess not.

That said, unless you are in the HR team and are concerned that she has wangled extra time off or more flexibility, I think YAB entirely U. You are looking for trouble, and is it really your business? In your shoes I would brush my suspicions off. Yes, as you present the situation it does sound slightly fishy, but not entirely implausible. Best to not let it get in the way of your ability to work with her. You could be negatively judging someone who has actually been incredibly brave and resilient, and presumably that would make you feel awful.

I take methotrexate weekly for rheumatoid arthritis. I'm on probably a small percentage of what one might receive as a cancer treatment. So whilst my meth could be described as 'chemo', it feels quite dramatic, not to mention fraudulent, to call it that.

Glioblastomas are graded .

I have explained it. Google it. The term is clearly set out. I have tried to post screenshots.

You are removed from this. You were not the carer, I was. You didn't have the conversations with consultants and nurses and support staff that I did. You are, I suspect, also not the mother of a doctor as I am, who would tell you the same thing. This was not your fight, however dreadful your loss was, and I think your lack of respect for me and my recent widowhood and years of experience of this disease is really shocking. It's not about you. I literally posted an article of why staging is not applicable here in the UK at least.

I'm withdrawing from this thread now. I came on here to enlighten the OP who is barking up many wrong trees and risks causing much upset. But you represent the very worst of Mumsnet, with your point scoring and sneering and massive ego. Just what sort of person harassed a widow and tells her she's wrong about her husband's illness? I hate to think.

Don't reply. I won't read it

I had a person very close to me claim to have incurable brain tumours, they supposedly went into spontaneous remission and then they reoccured - both times when it was very useful for them to garner sympathy and be seen as heroic. I became suspicious and did some digging, it was a lie and something they had done before. They moved away and did it again. These people know that it’s very unlikely people will question them.

The other lady is being aggressive and rude. Grades and stages are different. I know this as I’ve had cancer. My two unrelated friends who had glioblastoma were stage 4 from the outset (ie. not curable). Nothing to do with mets. Just the nature of that particular cancer.

Nobody is taking you to task. You’re just wrong. Would you like to talk to my very young widow friend who has just lost her husband to Glioblastoma. STAGE 4 from outset. Your staging argument is absolutely valid for other cancers. Not this one.

I don’t think the other lady is saying it’s curable or similar, just that the words ‘stage 4’ are not used for this sort of cancer. Which does make sense as staging is normally related to spread. So stage 4 has spread to distant organs. This wouldn’t be the case with a gliobastoma, horrific as it is.

@Muddlingalongsomehow

@Muddlingalongsomehow Please be mindful that aside from my own experiences of glioblastoma, I’m a cancer survivor myself so do not dare call me “ignorant”. Absolutely outrageous and insulting.

100%, maybe it’s cathartic to share stories but from what I can remember from the thread there isn’t anyone telling a story of this exact brain tumour which suggests that this lady’s story is likely. Other types of cancer are irrelevant as are other types of brain tumour.

having said that the OP is right not to get involved because even if there is a 1% chance the lady is being honest it is still a chance and a mistake not worth making.

Stop being so bloody rude and insulting me. In the last five years I’ve lost two close friends to Glioblastoma. It is a STAGE 4 cancer from the outset as it is NOT CURATIVE. There is no grading that is going to change that outcome. It is an aggressive cancer that even with surgery usually grows back within a a few weeks. Instead of being rude to me, read all of the posts from people, including me, who have experience of glioblastoma.