World Cancer Day 2025
The theme for this year’s World Cancer Day is “United by Unique”, and the campaign is to “see the person before the patient.”
Kyle and Vicky Payne, from Hampshire, have endured the “best worst year of our lives” since Vicky learned she had a brain tumour last February. This is their story.
Kyle and Vicky’s story
No one in their 30s should ever receive this news.”
Kyle
Vicky’s diagnosis, in February last year, arrived without warning. Kyle was driving them from home in Andover to Scotland for a family holiday, their two young children in the back of the car, when Vicky started slurring her speech and noticed a funny taste in her mouth. Kyle was worried enough to take her to the nearest A&E, at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Almost as soon as they arrived, Vicky began to have “extremely scary” tonic clonic seizures. Kyle said:
“We were rushed into a side room while nurses and doctors attended to Vicky. I was so glad that she waited until we got to hospital before having this type of seizure! I started to ring Vicky’s family to tell them the scary news that I thought Vicky was having a stroke, forgetting that my nan had passed away from a stroke a few months earlier which terrified my eldest who was 9 at the time.”
Just four hours later, the couple were given the devastating news that Vicky had a brain tumour.
A perfect wedding
Prior to Vicky’s diagnosis … personal stories you read online, or in a magazine, were fiction, not something that happened in real family homes – let alone to people you know and love.”
Kyle
Vicky’s tumour was found to be a grade 4 astrocytoma with IDH-mutant – an aggressive type of brain cancer. She had an awake craniotomy on March 20th last year and is currently 8 months into a 12 month cycle of chemotherapy. Kyle said:
“Vicky is doing incredible, she is a true warrior. Our children, Casper, 10, and Marley,7, are amazing and support with chores around the house.
“Much of our home life hasn’t changed. Vicky has a wheelchair for when she is tired, and we were lucky enough to be able to purchase a camper van last year which has enabled us to continue with trips away and make memorable family holidays.
“As a family, we live each day as it comes and continue to go out as often as we can, it is important to have things to look forward to!”
Kyle and Vicky had been engaged since 2014, but after her diagnosis they decided to get married – to give Vicky something to look forward to, and “to give hope in the darkness” as Kyle puts it. They had originally wanted a small wedding, with just two witnesses, but scaled up their plans and celebrated with 50 friends on May 10th, 2024. Kyle said:
“It was a perfect day. At night the northern lights were visible and for us that was a sign.
“The wedding was long overdue. We should have done it years ago, but the day itself was so magical.”
“The best worst year of our lives.”
Although the couple have made the most of happy moments, Kyle is the first to admit that the last twelve months have been tough.
“It’s important to recognise that brain tumours don’t just affect one person, they affect everyone that person knows. Personally, I’ve had several mental breakdowns over the last twelve months. You start to overthink – ‘I can’t bring our children up on my own’. The future you had planned together is ripped away from you.
“I reached out to The Brain Tumour Charity who provided free counselling support which helped me massively in opening up about how I am feeling, how it’s normal to have these thoughts, and following GP follow up, I’m in a much better place.
“Things are going really well at the moment, although Vicky had a blip at the start of the year when she experienced another seizure and needed admitting to hospital. As a couple we have become used to the frequent hospital trips, so we treated this admission as respite from our children, having a quiet day from our normally busy schedule, and enjoyed a lovely gammon roast at the hospital, something that we had planned to cook that day anyway. Who knew a hospital trip could be compared to a spa day?!
“We have been fortunate to have received so much support from other charities, our children’s schools, our employers, not forgetting our friends and family – to enable us to live as normally as we can. I can only describe the initial 12 months following diagnosis as the ‘Best worst year of our lives’.
Fundraising for a cure
Kyle has thrown himself into fundraising since Vicky’s diagnosis, raising over £4,000 to date, and he’s not stopping there. Last year he attempted an ultra marathon along the Jurassic Coast. He’s added two gruelling running challenges, the London 2 Brighton Ultra Challenge, and the Easter 50 Ultra Challenge, to his schedule for 2025. He said:
“I want to keep raising awareness of brain tumours and how much of a sudden impact they can make on your life. I’m a very competitive person and looking forward to the challenges, I’m just hoping for better weather this time!
“Although Vicky had no symptoms prior to the day she was diagnosed, awareness needs to be spread to ensure people go to their doctors if they have any worrying symptoms, and to request further investigation or second opinion if their concerns are not resolved.
“When things get tough on my challenges, I’ll think of all of the treatment Vicky has had to have over the last 12 months, where she hasn’t moaned or griped once about how tired, or fed up she is and just keeps going. It’s such an important cause for me, and I hope that breakthrough is made in early detection of a brain tumour, or for improved treatment to reduce the poor prognosis that so many other individuals experience following diagnosis of a brain tumour.”
Be a voice for change this World Cancer Day
Brain Tumour Awareness Month is almost upon us, and we plan to make sure the stories of Kyle, Vicky, and others are heard. Now is the perfect time to get involved and raise your voice. Join the #WorldCancerDay conversation on social media by following #UnitedByUnique, and sign up to our campaigner network below.