Influencer, 28, Went from Planning Her Wedding to Facing Incurable Brain Cancer

One influencer is opening up about her cancer diagnosis and how it has impacted her life, including everything from wedding planning to fertility.

Shinae Ann, a 28-year-old YouTuber and TikToker from Australia, first shared in a September social media video that she had been diagnosed with an incurable grade 2 astrocytoma — a form of tumor that forms in the brain from supportive tissue cells that can quickly spread through brain tissue, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

At the time of her diagnosis, Shinae had been deep in the wedding planning process. She shared in a TikTok that she and her fiancé ultimately opted to postpone their nuptials from April 2026 to later in the year, as they weren’t sure where her cancer treatment would take them.

Speaking to Australian outlet 9Honey about the day she found out about her tumor, Shinae recalled driving home from breakfast when a friend called her.

“When I saw her calling me, I thought I’d just pull up, chat to her and go into the [garage] afterwards,” Shinae shared, recalling how she opted to park on the street outside her home so she could have better cell reception. “I’m really glad that I made that decision.”

The influencer recalled suddenly seeing visions in her right eye, and being unable to open the car door.

“Something was not right. I didn’t know where I was,” she recalled to 9Honey. “I said to my friend, ‘Something is wrong with me.’ That’s when I started to freak out.”

Shinae’s fiancé, Sebastain, was at home at the time, and jumped into action after her friend alerted him to the situation taking place outside.

“He had no idea how severe it was until he said he saw me,” Shinae said. “He said I just looked at him with terror in my eyes.”

Although it took her nearly a minute to open the car door and let her fiancé inside, the pair sped to the hospital as soon as they could.

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When they arrived at a small private hospital, Shinae began having a seizure.

“That’s when the doctors came and started helping immediately,” she recalled. “They helped get me to the public hospital, where I’ve had the rest of my treatment.”

An MRI and CT scans showed that she had a brain tumor, and surgeons scheduled her for an operation to remove as much of it as possible, as well as a biopsy, later that week.

“They didn’t know if it was cancerous, they didn’t know what type it was or anything,” she explained to 9Honey. Doctors quickly diagnosed Shinae with a cancerous astrocytoma, and told her that it was considered incurable because of where it’s located in her brain.

“It’s made its way into important parts of my brain that would affect speech, memory and eyesight, so that they can’t remove the tumour, which is why I’ll probably have it for forever,” Shinae said.

“My dad had also had a seizure a few weeks before me, so we already had a lot going on in our family,” she added. “That’s kind of when it hit me that I’m actually really unwell.”

According to the influencer, she plans to go through radiation and chemotherapy, “but even if they can kill the cancer cells and I go into remission, since the tumor is still there, it’s inevitable.”

“The cancer will come back at some point,” she said.

Despite the difficult diagnosis, Shinae has been candid about wanting to put on a brave face and fight. On her TikTok account, she has detailed undergoing fertility treatments to attempt to freeze embryos and have children in the future.

“I feel like I’m quite a resilient person, I just feel like at some point I’m like, well, there’s nothing that I can do about it so I may as well get on with it,” she said. “I don’t really dwell on the negatives too much; I always try to look for the positives.”

She has also taken time to advocate for other young people to undergo regular medical checkups, as she experienced migraines for years before her tumor was discovered.

“All it would’ve taken was getting an MRI three or five years ago and we would’ve known about [the tumor],” Shinae told 9Honey. “You know yourself the best, if you have a feeling that there’s something wrong. I think it’s important to push for yourself. Say, ‘I think I want to get an MRI done.’ Just take yourself a little bit more seriously because I didn’t.”

As for her future, Shinae said, “I have high hopes. I have youth on my side. I’m healthy, so I’m going to do everything on my end to do as much as I can to still live a long, healthy life.”