A woman who was told her ‘mental state’ caused her to have a seizure was later diagnosed with brain tumour.

Lisa Cozier, 43, from Chipping Norton, when while at home with her husband, Ian, a 43-year-old sound engineer, she suffered a seizure.

The next day, following tests and an MRI scan at the JR in Oxford she was diagnosed with non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD) – caused by mental and emotional processes rather than physical causes.

The grandmother-of-two said: “At the time I had a lot going on in my personal life and my mental health was very challenging.

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"Although doctors told me not to worry I didn’t want to wait for another seizure and I made the conscious effort to work on my mental health.”

Mrs Cozier's seizures finally stopped.

A year later, she was fitted with a pacemaker after dizzy spells and further tests revealed she had intermittent heart block, a possible side effect of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - a condition that affects connective tissue in the body.

Her health problems continued, but after a CT scan at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, she received a shock diagnosis.

She said: “Up until this point my brain tumour had gone undiagnosed so to hear those two words was a huge surprise. At this point, I wanted to know more about my tumour and what treatment I would need.

“I kept thinking about my grandmother who had a meningioma [brain tumour] and died aged 73, when I was in my early 30s.

"I couldn’t help but wonder if that would be my fate.”

Over the last two years, Lisa has been on a ‘watch and wait’, which ended in March, and a recent MRI scan showed no further growth of her tumour.

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But as well as double vision, Mrs Cozier experiences intense bouts of fatigue and uses a mobility scooter to walk her assistance Labrador, Rory.

She said: “It’s been difficult to come to terms with my diagnosis because I still don’t have answers to all the questions in my head. My family has been incredibly supportive during this time, as has Rory, in helping me gain confidence in getting out into nature – something key to helping my mental and physical health.

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“I hope that by sharing my story I can help highlight the need for more funding for research of this disease that we still do not know enough about.”

Hugh Adams, head of stakeholder relations at Brain Tumour Research, said: “It’s concerning that Lisa’s brain tumour diagnosis was delayed and that symptoms were mistaken as being related to other underlying health conditions.

"Her story highlights the need for more research into discovering the causes of brain tumours, which will help scientists to find better treatment options and ultimately a cure for this deadly disease.”