The Altona North mother of three young children realised something was wrong when she experienced problems with her vision and dizziness earlier this year.

She thought she was just tired but then noticed some double vision as she looked up and over to the left.

A visit to a GP and optometrist detected nothing unusual, but she was referred to another specialist, who diagnosed sixth-nerve palsy of the left eye and sent her to a neurologist.

An CT scan again came up clear, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

Following an MRI scan on May 6, a neurosurgeon called and booked her in for an urgent biopsy on May 12.

That was when she was hit with the news that has changed the course of her life: she had a brain tumour.

"He explained it was about the size of a golf ball, and it was inoperable and terminal," she said.

"Because of its location and type, it was in a far too dangerous and difficult position to operate."

When she asked her neurosurgeon about the prognosis, he explained that with treatment she would have a few years to live. Without, she would have only a matter of months.

"My heart stopped," she said. "I couldn't breathe and all I could think of were my babies.

"I just couldn't speak and I sat there and wept silently.

"I constantly worry about them and their future and for their father, because I was never meant to get sick - suddenly there's so much to consider.

"The only time I really think, why me? or that it's not fair is when I look at the kids, and the fact that my youngest daughter Kate - who's only just turned one - might not remember her mum.

"They don't yet know the seriousness of the illness and are far too young to get a grip on it."

She has completed a six-week intensive radiation treatment, but the effects are intense and she faces a long wait to find out if it has made any difference.

Even if it has, she will then begin chemotherapy.