Tumble saves skater’s life after scan uncovers brain tumour

Lisa Armitage, 30, from Grimsby, suffered concussion after she fell on an ice rink while practising turns, watched by her fiance, Mark Wood, 25, who is also her skating coach.

A brain scan revealed Miss Armitage, who has been skating for three years and hopes to take part in competitions, had a tumour the size of a tennis ball in her head, which, while not malignant, would have eventually killed her.

Miss Armitage, a finance manager who teaches swimming in her spare time, said: “When I got together with Mark, he encouraged me to try ice skating and I loved it. I never used to believe in fate, but I really do think that fate played a part.

“I fell in such an unusual way, landing on the side of my head, that I couldn’t replicate it even if I tried. Its strange because I fell doing a spin I have done hundreds of times. It’s unbelievable that I had such a large tumour and had no symptoms – without the fall I wouldn’t have known about it.”

She is raising cash for Hull Royal Infirmary’s brain unit, where she was treated, by holding an all-night sponsored skating session at Grimsby Leisure Centre, where the accident happened.