From Wedding Plans to Unthinkable Diagnosis

21 September 2025

Patient undergoing an MRI (stock image). Getty

Shinae Ann, a 28-year-old Australian influencer active on TikTok and YouTube, recently shared devastating personal news: she has been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. The diagnosis has forced her to put her life plans on hold, including the wedding she had been preparing for.

Ann began noticing troubling signs some weeks ago. She was seeing blurry vision in her right eye and feeling confused in ways she couldn’t explain. One morning while driving home from breakfast she felt disoriented and stopped the car in her driveway so she could check her phone. She could not open the car door easily and said she felt a sense something was very wrong.

When she reached the hospital after a seizure she was taken in for MRI and CT imaging. Doctors discovered a grade 2 astrocytoma, a type of tumour that arises from astrocytes, the support cells in the brain.

This tumour is deeply concerning because of where it is located. Some regions affected are essential for speech, memory and eyesight. Removing the tumour via surgery risks severe losses in those areas. Because of that, her medical team has deemed this tumour inoperable. She will still receive treatment surgery to remove what is safely possible, radiation, chemotherapy but with the knowledge that the tumour will likely persist and could grow in the future.

At the time of her diagnosis, Ann was deeply involved in long-term wedding plans with her fiancé Sebastian. They had been aiming for an April 2026 wedding. After learning of the tumour, they decided to postpone that date. The uncertainty about health, treatment timing and how she would recover made it impossible to keep moving toward the original plan. In addition to postponing the big day Ann has begun fertility preservation procedures, hoping to keep open the possibility of having children someday despite the diagnosis.

She spoke openly about the shock that came with suddenly seeing her future reframed around scans, seizures, clinic visits and medications rather than weddings, milestones and ceremonies. She acknowledged her fear and the abruptness with which life can change. Yet she also emphasized how her youth, her baseline good health, and a resilient mindset give her some hope. She told her followers that she intends to live as fully as she can, holding both vulnerability and strength in the same breath.

Beyond her personal struggle Ann is using her platform for awareness. She has urged others especially young people to take warning symptoms seriously. She reflected on how migraines, vision changes, or confusion can sometimes be dismissed as stress but in rare cases may point to something more serious. She encourages getting checked, pushing for imaging when things don’t feel right rather than waiting to see if they pass. The message she wants to share: medical care, early detection, self-advocacy matter.

Still, even with all that weight on her, Ann is holding on to moments of normality, hope and connection. She said she feels gratitude for her fiancé’s support and the love of friends and family. She’s taking time to breathe, to plan within limits, to remember that life is made up of small days even when the big future feels uncertain. She is allowing both the sorrow and the joy to coexist.

This story is one of abrupt change but also of fighting spirit. It reminds us how quickly plans can shift, how fragile health can be, and how important it is to listen to our bodies. It also underscores how certain medical realities especially with brain tumours force difficult trade-offs: between possibilities and limitations, between what’s possible and what’s safe.

Ann’s journey will likely involve constant recalibration. She may face setbacks, side effects, or news she doesn’t want to hear. But right now she seems committed to showing up: to treatment, to sharing her story, to holding hope, and to demanding that her life be measured not just by diagnosis but by purpose, connection, love.