Farren was told it was 'just a bit of hysteria'. It was actually a brain tumour the size of a lime.

It all started with a strange but subtle symptom.

At 22, Farren Buckley's arm started twitching. With no other health concerns, she didn't think it was anything sinister.

"Randomly, my arm would shoot up in the air," she explained to Mamamia. "It would last a few minutes. I didn't think too much about it."

However, she did think it was odd enough to visit a GP about it, just before moving overseas in 2022 — from her childhood home in Brisbane to England.

"I was told by the doctor, 'It's weird, but I don't think anything nasty is going on'. I was 22, so I trusted that. The doctor said, 'Go ahead, move to London', so that's what I did."

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Farren spent a year travelling around 20 countries between shifts at her hospitality job. Six months into the stay, her arm jolted upwards again. Then it happened two more times.

After hearing about the UK health system's long waits, she decided to see a doctor when she returned home in a few months' time.

Back on Aussie soil in early 2024, Farren was "happy and grateful" and had no symptoms. "I got into the gym, I had a good job, a lot of things were going well."

In April that all changed.

Farren was woken in the middle of the night by the arm movements. "It was like an eye twitch… or little electric shots, not moving a lot, but you can feel it."

Farren Buckley before her cancer diagnosis. Image: Supplied.

The next day at work, Farren struggled with blurry eyesight and intense headaches, so she went to hospital.

"I presented with stroke-like symptoms — my whole left side wasn't working properly, I had headaches and involuntary arm movements. All of those things are red flags."

It would be hours waiting in emergency before Farren was seen by a doctor.

"I think they looked at me and thought, 'You're 24, you're a girl. There's nothing going on here but a bit of hysteria'," she remembered.

Finally, Farren was seen by neurology. She failed the reflex tests.

"I couldn't feel the left side of my body. They didn't think anything was wrong, I was given a referral for an MRI and told it would cost me $1200."

After being stuck in the hospital for nine hours, Farren wanted to go home.

"I was so naive, it never crossed my mind that it was something serious."

Farren's health takes a turn.

Farren Buckley had a seizure at home days after leaving the emergency department. Image: Supplied.

A few days later at home, Farren noticed her little finger twitching — then her hand "jolting". She screamed to her sister for help, before dropping to the ground.

"I was foaming, gurgling, I had a five-minute seizure, my whole body was convulsing," Farren said.

"I woke up, freaking out. I only remember the ambulance coming. I asked, 'am I going to die, am I going to die?' The paramedic said, 'I don't know, I can't tell you'."

In the emergency department — where days before she was sent home, Farren was taken straight through for a CT scan and MRI.

Afterwards, alone in her hospital room, two doctors came in with the result — a mass had been found on her brain.

"They said, 'it's the size of a squashed lime. With a few tentacles. But it's benign'."

She needed brain surgery. Farren left the hospital with a script for anti-seizure medication, and instructions to "go life your life normally", so that's what she did for the next six weeks.

"I'm sure my parents knew a lot more than they let on. I'm sure they heard 'brain tumour', and they thought the worst."

Farren Buckley in hospital with her mum, who has never left her side. Image: Supplied.

Surgery was a success – or so she thought.

After an eight-and-a-half-hour brain surgery, and four days in hospital, Farren was discharged with a walking cane for support, and a large scar across her head. For the second time — she heard her tumour was benign.

Farren returned two weeks later for an appointment, she thought was to check on her scar. With her parents by her side, Farren "skipped in" to the doctor's office — expecting to close this chapter of her life.

"The doctor noticed I was in a good mood. He asked, 'what do you think is going on'. I replied, 'you're here to look at my scar healing'.

"He said, 'I'm sorry to break this to you, you have stage three brain cancer'."

Farren froze with shock. "I couldn't cry. Nothing came out."

She learnt then, she was supposed to have an appointment with a surgeon to give her a diagnosis and treatment plan before her hospital discharge. That never happened. This was her radiation appointment.

"We were gobsmacked. We felt like we had been sideswiped," Farren said.

The then 24-year-old was given a devastating prognosis (she refuses to believe). And told to process the information over the weekend and return on Monday for a plan.

She spent the weekend numb with grief. "I cried that whole weekend. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I thought I would rather die. I didn't want to do chemotherapy, or radiation. I thought 'what's the point', if the end outcome was going to be the same."

Farren's mum, an ICU nurse, wasn't letting her give up. She forced her daughter to eat and sleep, and dragged her mattress into the backyard, to at least get vitamin D. "I slept in the sun for two days. I was a potato."

Coming to terms with the hair loss, on top of a devastating diagnosis was heartbreaking for Farren. Image: Supplied.

A silver lining of hope.

At her Monday appointment, Farren heard how someone with the same cancer had run a marathon — it sparked a fire in her belly. "I thought, 'Okay, I can live a normal life'. I gained more strength. My mum never let me accept anything else," Farren said.

Appointments were made swiftly. First, IVF – because Farren's dream since she was a "toddler" was to become a mum. Then, six weeks of radiation. The dramatic hair loss, was a major emotional setback.

"I didn't want to go out. It was heartbreaking. I had long, beautiful hair. Everyone always commented on it," she said. "In the grand scheme of hair loss, it wasn't all gone, I could wear a cap and hide it. But it was a huge loss of identity."

Farren went sober "cold turkey", and struggled watching on as friends her age were hustling at work, studying, travelling abroad and partying.

She did chemotherapy for nearly 11 months, finishing in July 2025.

Farren Buckley was supported through cancer treatment by her partner. Image: Supplied.

Three-monthly MRI scans show the tumour is shrinking. And Farren — with her mum's incessant researching — is doing everything holistically she can to fight the cancer and heal her body, from overhauling her diet, to supplements, saunas, ice baths and hyperbaric chambers.

"Even if it's all placebo and not working, at least it's something to keep me busy and keep me fighting," Farren said. "By definition, it's terminal. Doctors need to tell the truth, but they need to give hope. If you give up you're going to die."

A few months into treatment, Farren started dating her boyfriend, and calls him her "biggest blessing".

"I'm young. I'm 26 now, I want to have kids. I want to get married. I want to live."

Now feeling well, Farren is training for her biggest goal — the Gold Coast Marathon in July.

She has turned to social media to share her health journey and running prep — in a series called from #chemoto42km. "Sharing on Tik Tok has been one of the best healing tools," she said. "I've been able to connect with so many young brain cancer fighters around the world."

"I've never run this far before, I want to prove myself I can."

Follow Farren's run series on TikTok here.

Feature image: Supplied.