AFL premiership player Danielle Laidley reveals ‘very rare’ brain tumour diagnosis

Danielle Laidley said she felt like she’d been hit with sledgehammer when a doctor told her she had a very rare brain tumour.

Danielle Laidley has revealed a battle with a “very rare” brain tumour that left her wondering if she needed to “wind everything up”.

The AFL premiership player and former coach said fears had been allayed after the shock diagnosis with doctors saying it’s benign but she does need surgery.

“At the moment my health isn’t that flash but life’s pretty good,’’ Laidley told The Imperfects podcast.

“I started getting headaches back around about October I think it was last year, and so I went to the doctors and (had) scans and CTE scans and MRIs and all that sort of stuff, and they found a brain tumour at the bottom of the back of my skull, on my spinal cord.

“So it’s called a Subependymoma, which is a very rare tumour. So, I can sit here today, and use a quote from my surgeon, it’s not going to kill me, but being on my spinal cord, it has to come out.”

Danielle Laidley with partner Donna Leckie. Picture: Carly Ravenhall

Laidley said she and partner Donna Leckie were left speechless but had a positive outlook.

“It’s sort of like walking around with a stone in your shoe, some days it really hurts and other days it’s OK,’’ she said.

“When we had the scans and the MRIs and went back to the GP it was as blunt as ‘you have a brain tumour, here’s a referral and off you go’.

“Donna and I went really quiet. We got back in the car and didn’t speak for quite a while. When you say brain tumour it’s like getting hit over the head with a sledgehammer. For about three weeks we were googling it, what is this thing blah blah blah.

“It wasn’t until we went to the surgeon (that) he allayed all our fears and said this is benign.

“We spent nearly an hour in there going through every picture and (the surgeon) explaining everything to us. So we walked out of there thinking well, it is a brain tumour but we’re going to be OK.

“That was a big relief but it really knocked our socks off. You start to think what do I need to do, to wind everything up and that sort of stuff. That took its toll.”

Laidley, who had sought to return to coaching via the AFLW, has since taken a back step and somewhat retreated from public life. She still advocates for the transgender community and works with diversity initiatives.

“Every now and again I think, gee I’ve got a brain tumour,’’ she said.

“To be honest that’s the first time I’ve publicly said anything about it. I think it’s probably time not to keep private but to put it out there like I’ve probably done with the rest of my life, to let people know and understand you can (deal with) these things but with the right care and empathy and team around you, everything’s going to be OK.”

Originally published as AFL premiership player Danielle Laidley reveals ‘very rare’ brain tumour diagnosis