To think something is off here?

With great respect to posters detailing now you can have various types of cancer and not look ill, a GBM is not that. It's very aggressive, very quickly. If this person has said a low grade astrocytoma that would be plausible, but glioblastoma no. So either it's a different type of brain tumour, or it's a lie.

Tricky one. Have you asked her about the particulars of her treatment? What medication does she take, what amounts and when? Is it consistent with what you can research? What hospital/ consultant is she with? I know you can look them up on the General Medical Council website. Is this lady known for being honest, or the opposite? Do you know her family? What are they like? Could they enlighten you? I'd certainly be asking all of these questions to prove or disprove her claims.

I'm going to add something here. A really ignorant person is taking me to task for highlighting that a high level brain tumour is called Grade 4 not Stage 4 and arguing with me about it. I was carer for my late husband for 8 years, with his GRADE 3 brain tumour. He never had a Stage, because that is not used, certainly in the Uk. I have been trying to add screenshot showing how and why staging is not used for brain tumour- google is your friend here - but I think mumsnet is not uploading them. Staging is for showing how cancer has or hasn't spread. Brain tumours rarely do that.

Out of respect for brain tumour patients and their families, I think this woman an anyone else continuing to insist on the wrong terminology needs to stop now

When a family member had a brain tumour it was well hidden by long hair, but after a lot of treatment she was weak and exhausted and being sick. She could not have hidden it or worked for months. Thankfully well now

Look. Stop it. You don't know what you're talking about. Have some respect. Ignorant woman

Me too. Stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer. Been “well” for nearly six years if you discount the endless days in bed, sleeping off the hideous chemo, the awful side effects. She looks fabulous and long may that continue ❤️

I’m sorry you feel you need an apology. I had grade 2 breast cancer. I understand grading. Glioblastoma is a stage 4 cancer from diagnosis. No amount of removing, debulking, chemo, radio, is going to change the outcome tragically and that outcome rarely surpasses 18 months. Both of my young, fit, previously healthy friends were within a year.

Yes already posted before but reiterating that it I don’t believe it’s something easily hidden. It’s brutal and devastating. Surgery is huge and has a significant recovery depending on location of tumor. Treatment (chemo and radiation) is also not something you just sail through. Radiotherapy to your head region almost always has serious fatigue as a side effect.

I'm so incredibly sorry xxx

I have a friend who definitely has cancer. She's not faking.
To the outside world, you'd never know. She looks fantastic, always happy and joking with a huge smile. She's still got her hair, but had lost some weight.
Even after major surgery, you'd never know unless she told you.

Sounds unlikely to me. My parents both had grade 4 glioblastomas. My father survived 10 months, much longer than his consultant expected, with just steroids, but he was very ill throughout. My mother 's tumour was debulked but she only survived three months. Glioblastomas are usually only found when they metastasis, which is why they have such a poor outcome. I would be very surprised that your colleague could appear well and without symptoms. I suspect Munchausens.

Had a colleague some years ago died of glioblastoma at 27. He had operations beforehand which prolonged his life but had hair loss and scaring where his skull was opened to get at the tumour. He lost some function, memory, speech etc., with every op. Only lasted two years after diagnosis. If your colleague doesn't have obvious signs of an op or deterioration she's very lucky.

That’s a red flag for me tbh. I had TWO different work colleagues fake cancer. One of them was very attention seeking and appeared in several local rags. The problem was, her shaved head never had any bald spots. Her partner was totally duped.

I have incurable cancer which has spread to various places, including my brain. I have 3 weekly chemo and brain radiotherapy when new tumours pop up. From the outside I think I look normal, and I've long outlived my prognosis (they thought I'd live for a year or so....that was 5 years ago!) I've two young children and many mums and dads on the playground have no idea i have incurable cancer. Of the people who do know, I'd be horrified if it even crossed their minds I'd made it up!

To clarify - my relative had shaved her hair all over - no sign of an operation site. (Plus there was no word of her ever being accompanied to chemotherapy by anyone in the family and no word of an operation of any kind.)

Yes, I had a friend who lost her care to chemo. That's why it was so obvious when my relative shaved her hair.

With the greatest of respect, and I’m so sorry to hear you are suffering with cancer, glioblastoma is completely different.

It is one of the most, if not the most, aggressive type of cancer. If the colleague had surgery to remove the tumour as she claims, her head would have been shaved in part at least. I do not believe, after watching a loved one die of this bastard disease, that the colleague has glioblastoma.

I know someone who faked cancer - you don't imagine someone you know would do something like that - I don't want to say anything too outing - they lied to one person for a specific reason - but word got out and it spiralled out of their control and they couldn't actually say - actually I made it up. I can't remember how it was uncovered. They died a few years later - not of cancer.

I think if you don't have any proof just assume they are telling the truth but be careful around money requests.

A bit different, because I have had a different type of cancer, but a very aggressive sort. Mine wasn’t metastatic though, so not terminal although I had to have 3 years of several types of chemo to stop it as it was on the point of spreading. However, I carried on, worked through chemo, carried on doing the school runs, exercising when I could, doing most of my normal stuff and I didn’t particularly want to talk about it as cancer can become all consuming with everyone asking how you are all the time.

so I would cut your colleague some slack - maybe she is faking, but quite possibly she isn’t. My mum has had stage 4 cancer for 12 years now but it’s not the same type as your colleague and is very stable with meds luckily. A friend of mine had a benign brain tumour, had it removed and has had no further trouble, but that was never cancer as it was benign.

Just also a note to everyone talking about shaved heads - chemo makes your hair fall out, you don’t shave your head! I mean it makes all your hair fall out, everywhere on your body (although I only lost half my eyebrows for some reason). It really annoys me when people talk about cancer patients having ‘shaved heads’ and ‘brave the shave’ irritates me for similar reasons - shaving one’s head is nothing like your hair falling out I promise.

This clarifies it

I will await your apology. I just googled it to check. It's referred to on the Brain Tumour Charity website and others as a Grade 4. Grade is the type.

I took a screenshot but it won't let me upload it.

Staging is the point it has reached. Eg I had a grade 2 uterine cancer, thought at first to be Stage 4 as they thought it had metastasised, later thought not.

If she’s had time off work or they’ve had to accommodate her in various ways you’d have thought they’d have required evidence to do so. Of course she could have faked it, but it’s unlikely they wouldn’t have asked for something.(and if she provided a false document that’s now fraud, a criminal offence). And your employer can of course check up on it (by contacting the named doctor for example).

But I agree with you, it’s very unlikely she’d have lasted this long without physical signs, deterioration, etc. And if she had an operation there would be physical signs, eg scars - you have to drill holes in the skull to access the brain!

My relative lived for 6 weeks from diagnosis.

Glioblastoma is always Stage 4 (nothing to do with grading). I understand given your experience with your husband why you are annoyed but it’s not the same by a long way.