Becky Jones was just 21 when she was told she had a terminal brain tumour and months to live.
She had not long met her partner and dreamed of a career in policing, but suddenly the future was looking bleak.
The diagnosis, by an experienced cancer consultant, led to 11 years of chemotherapy treatment which changed her life. She regularly felt sick, she was unable to take part in family events, her career was curtailed and she felt constantly “on eggshells”.
Now 34, she has recently learned she never had cancer at all but an inflammation of the brain that could have been treated with steroids.
The mother of two is one of more than 40 patients taking legal action against University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust due to prolonged or unnecessary cancer treatment.
“I was told time and time again without the chemotherapy I would die,” she said.
…
When she questioned multiple scans that did not seem to show evidence of a tumour, she says the consultant told her it would not be “visible to the naked eye”.
It was only in 2025, when cancer cases at the trust connected to Brown were being reviewed, that she learned the truth.
“I never had a brain tumour. I was misdiagnosed and I’ve gone through all this treatment for the main part of my adult life, for no reason,” she said.
“He’s just ruined my life, essentially,” she added
Many more of Brown’s patients have told the BBC they were given TMZ for years, leaving them with a variety of serious medical issues.
One patient said she believed the drug had made her infertile, while another developed leukaemia after 100 unnecessary cycles.