Ex TV3 Reporter Laura Ryan Battling Second Brain Tumour Diagnosis at age 50

Ex TV3 Reporter and Director of marketing, communications and public affairs at the University of Limerick, Laura Ryan’s brain tumour returns less than a year after her initial diagnosis.

Despite being proactive about her health through early mammograms, regular check-ups and blood tests, fatigue, anxiety and brain fog appeared towards the end of October 2025. Although she initially attributed the symptoms to her hormones, Laura eventually contacted her general practitioner to undergo a checkup. However, just two days before her appointment, Laura collapsed at a work conference in Birmingham.

Just before Laura’s 50th birthday, she woke up with a seizure and dislocated her shoulder in another country away from her husband and children. A subsequent scan found a large mass in her brain, which she named Boris.

In an article published in The Irish Times, Laura states: “Giving it a name makes it feel slightly less like an incurable cancer and more like an unwanted house guest”.

Laura then flew to Cork, where neurosurgeon Chris Lim at Cork University Hospital determined that the tumour was operable. Despite not knowing the outcome of her treatment, Laura spent the days before her surgery, buying children’s christmas presents and a 2026 calendar to mark her important family dates.

On November 19 2025, Dr Lim removed as much of the brain tumour as safely as possible. However, tests confirmed glioblastoma. an incurable grade 4 brain cancer. Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumour, and classified as a grade 4 brain cancer with a median survival of 14 months.

In addition to removing the brain tumour, Laura completed six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by six monthly cycles of chemo.

Despite initial treatment with surgery and different therapies, recurrence is common. This is due to the fact that glioblastoma is highly infiltrative. Last month, Laura revealed the return of her brain cancer, less than a year after her initial diagnosis. MRI scans suggest that the second tumour is a mix of tumour treatment damage in the same location, the right frontal lobe.

Currently, there is no standardized treatment plan for when glioblastoma returns. Fortunately, surgery to remove the tumour from her frontal lobe was deemed possible and was scheduled for October 21, 2026.

In an article published in The Irish Times, Laura states that: “What I want after surgery on my brain tumour is simply to know every appropriate option has been explored for me. I’m not asking for false hope. I know an experimental treatment may not work. I’m asking for a fair chance to be considered, and for the system to move with the urgency of the disease.”

Controversy remains over the best treatment strategy for recurrent glioblastoma, and different forms of treatments have been investigated. Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive tumours; thankfully in recent years, several treatment strategies have been studied for patients whose disease progresses after the initial treatment.

"In brain cancer, possibility is all about time: another birthday, another Christmas, another school run, another wonderfully ordinary rainy Irish day with the people I love."

- Laura Ryan, The Irish Times