Scottish Woman Blamed Perimenopause, Then MRI Found Stage 4 Cancer
Jemma Hawkes, 43, from East Lothian in Scotland, put fatigue, brain fog and migraines down to perimenopause. An MRI scan in 2025 showed stage 4 melanoma had spread to her liver, lungs and brain. After five months of immunotherapy, doctors found no sign of cancer.
Jemma Hawkes, a 43-year-old support worker from East Lothian in Scotland, blamed three months of fatigue, brain fog and migraines on perimenopause before an MRI scan in 2025 showed stage 4 cancer in her liver, lungs and brain. She has since had five months of immunotherapy and says doctors found no sign of the disease.
Hawkes is now urging other women to seek help if something does not feel right.
She was 41 when the symptoms began. "I was in that age bracket," she said, so at first she was not alarmed, though she found it frustrating.
In March 2025 she sat at her laptop and could not read an email. Her vision was blurred and the words made no sense. That prompted her to see her GP, who referred her for an MRI.
She expected reassurance that the cause was hormonal. Her husband, Dan, took her to the hospital but left to take their children to swimming lessons, so she saw the consultant alone.
A melanoma from years earlier
Three years before the diagnosis, doctors had removed a small melanoma, a type of skin cancer, from her back. She links it to too much sunbathing in her 20s. After one annual check-up she was discharged and believed it was behind her.
The consultant told her the cancer had since spread silently through her blood to her liver, lungs and brain. Her symptoms were not perimenopause. Because the cancer was stage 4 and had metastasised, it was unlikely she would be permanently cured, but treatment could prolong her life and ease symptoms.
Doctors recommended immunotherapy, which uses the body's own immune system to fight disease. Hawkes said it was her only chance of survival. She gave up work and was not allowed to drive in case she had a seizure or lost her sight.
Dan became her carer. The couple, who have two children, Jack, 10, and Eiliah, six, told them she had cancer in her brain and that doctors would do their best to make her better.
She started treatment that April. She lost much of her hair, which regrew bright white.
After five months, her doctor told her: "It's exceptional news." There was no sign of cancer in her body, and she broke down in tears of relief.
Because the diagnosis was stage 4, the cancer could return. Hawkes has regular scans and has stayed cancer-free so far. She has gone back to work, taken a family holiday and raised money for Cancer Research UK.
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