Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images and Kelsey Stokstad / SWNS
|
Kelsey Stokstad, a 32-year-old mom from Madison, Wisconsin, was tragically diagnosed with Grade 3 astrocytoma brain cancer after doctors repeatedly dismissed the severe tingling and numbness in her arm as nothing more than anxiety, according to the NY Post. This situation is incredibly frustrating and highlights why people, especially women, need to advocate fiercely for themselves when they feel like something serious is being overlooked by medical professionals.
Stokstad first started experiencing numbness and tingling in her left hand and arm. She told reporters that the feeling was “very unnerving” and she initially suspected it might be heart-related, prompting a trip to the emergency room. However, the symptoms stopped once she arrived, which made the situation confusing for the doctors on staff.
Unfortunately, the medical team decided the issue was psychological rather than physical, much like the case of lethal misdiagnosis we recently reported about. They concluded it was anxiety-related and sent her home with a prescription for Beta blockers. Stokstad strongly feels this is a common misdiagnosis for women. Unsurprisingly, the Beta blockers didn’t do anything to address the root cause, and the numbness and tingling continued to persist.
The symptoms didn’t just stick around; they escalated over the next four months
By August 2023, Stokstad noticed the numbness was starting to move toward her leg. She was working alone and talking on the phone with her husband, Sean, a 33-year-old business consultant, when everything went dark.
“The next thing I knew, I was on the floor,” she recalled. Stokstad had suffered a grand mal seizure, a terrifying event involving a complete loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. Sean was screaming her name over the phone for what must have been five minutes before she finally came around, completely confused.
Sean immediately drove his wife to Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. A subsequent CAT scan revealed a concerning 4cm mass on her brain. Doctors quickly confirmed the severity of the situation and admitted her for immediate surgery. It was only then that they realized the tingling and numbness she had been experiencing weren’t anxiety attacks at all; those were small seizures. Stokstad said the tumor had grown large enough that it was pressing directly on her brain.
Just a few days later, on August 17, 2023, doctors performed a craniotomy and were able to successfully remove 98 percent of the tumor, which Stokstad rightly called “incredible.” The official diagnosis came in September 2023: a cancerous brain tumor identified as a Grade 3 astrocytoma. Cancer isn’t a rare phenomenon in the US, with even the EPA allowing carcinogenic pesticides, but this was still a shocker.
Initially, the prognosis was grim, estimating she had only three to five years left. However, a further biopsy brought some much-needed relief. The tumor had an IDH1 mutation, which thankfully means the cancer is less aggressive and slower growing. This mutation pushed her prognosis up to 12 to 15 years. “When they told us that, we were so happy.”
Stokstad finished her rigorous treatment schedule of 33 rounds of radiotherapy and 12 rounds of chemotherapy in January 2025. Since completing treatment, her scans have been stable, although she now needs MRI scans every four months.
Published: Nov 30, 2025 06:00 pm