Northamptonshire Police officer walks distance of Buxton after discovering brain tumour

Louise, from Kettering, pictured five minutes before she collapsed last year on her walk in Milton Keynes.

Fighting fit Louise James felt the world fall in on her when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour - but now she's walking miles for charity as part of her recovery

Police officer, Louise James, 31, was diagnosed with a grade 2 astrocytoma last year after she collapsed while on a run around a lake in Milton Keynes and was soon rushed to hospital for an MRI scan.

The officer, who works at East Northants station, said: "I was nearing the end of my run when I suddenly felt very panicky.

"I felt like I urgently needed to change the time on my watch. I then started to spin around in circles. I was aware I was doing this but couldn’t stop myself. I saw people walking towards me, they must have thought I was acting very strange. I fell to the floor and that was the last thing I remembered.

"I tried to get up, I wanted to try and walk it off, embarrassed at how I had created such a big scene. People told me to stay where I was, I heard sirens and two ambulances arrived shortly after. I was helped into one of the ambulances and asked very simple questions, for instance, my date of birth and where I lived.

"I couldn’t answer these questions at first, which was worrying but the answers soon came back to me."

The next day she was told by medics that she had a 'reasonable size' brain tumour on her left frontal lobe and had to restrict her duties as a police officer as she could no longer drive.

In December Louise started radiotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour - after finding out it wasn't cancerous - and is still receiving treatment while she's on the mend.

During lockdown, Louise, who is on sickness leave, set herself a fitness challenge to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity and has so-far bagged £400 through the support of her closest family and friends.

In April she set herself a challenge to walk the distance to each of her loved ones' homes - to distances as far afield to where her mum lives in Buxton - without stepping foot outside of the county.

All in all she's walked 325,248 steps, which equates to 154 miles.

She added: "I started walking in April and ended the challenge on the 4th of June where I've been walking round the local area.

"I went from not doing any exercise to going on daily walks during lockdown and it inspired me to go outside.

"The Brain Tumour Charity have pages which tell you what sort of tumours you can have and it was so helpful for me when I was diagnosed."