‘The Crown’ Actress Clair Foy, 39, Says Eye Tumor Almost Halted Acting Career & Touches on Toll Supporting Husband Through Brain Tumor Took

Foy is an award-winning actress who has starred in notable films, including “First Man” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” in 2018 and “Women Talking” and “All of Us Strangers” more recently.

When she was a teenager, she was diagnosed with an eye tumor around the same time she applied to study drama in college. While details regarding her tumor remain unclear, she noted the impact treatment left on her afterward.

“I was on steroids for about a year and a half afterward that makes you put on a lot of weight and have really bad skin,” Foy said.

Her tumor ended up benign (non-cancerous); thus, she did not need invasive surgery.

Several years later, Foy would confront another tumor, except this time, it was her husband, Stephen Moore, who had it. Stephen had been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor on his pituitary gland. By this time, the couple also shared a young daughter. The emotional rollercoaster of supporting her husband and her daughter and trying to maintain an elite acting career weighed heavy on Foy.

“My daughter didn’t know what was going on at all. But my family did, and I could see it in them,” Foy said.

Foy left “The Crown” shortly after that to pursue other endeavors while her husband recovered from surgery.

Coping With a Loved One’s Diagnosis

Undoubtedly, Foy was wrestling with a slew of emotions while her husband battled a brain tumor. Research published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine studied the impact of disease on family members. It was found that: “Most chronic diseases have similar effects on family members [as they do on the patient], including psychological and emotional functioning, disruption of leisure activities, effect on interpersonal relationships, and financial resources.”

Feelings of “helplessness, lack of control, anger, embarrassment” are some common emotions parents, siblings, and other relatives within the household of someone battling a health condition may experience, according to researchers.

Other ways a disease, for example, may impact the lives of family members include:

• Affecting sleep
• Concerns about medical treatment
• Altered food choices
• Using religion, spiritual, and cultural beliefs to cope
• Concerns about understanding the disease or illness
• Needing support from others
• Limited freedom
• Worrying about the death of a loved one

Our experts agree that forming a strong support system can help everyone in the family cope with the challenges a diagnosis can bring. These situations can be opportunities to strengthen families and bring them closer together.

Although Foy’s young daughter did not fully understand what was going on with her father’s health, older children may. If you or your spouse or partner are battling cancer or other major health conditions, talking to children about it may not come easy.

WATCH: How to talk to your children about your diagnosis.

If parents are nervous before this conversation, licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin said children can pick up on their emotions, so it may help to check in with yourself beforehand.

“Having these conversations may bring up deep emotions you may have stowed away. There is nothing wrong with showing our emotions to children as long as we can remain calm and give them a sense of safety,” Dr. Strongin said.

Understanding Brain Tumors

Claire Foy’s husband Stephen’s brain tumor was benign; however, these types of tumors can be both cancerous and non-cancerous, and both can cause troublesome symptoms.

Brain tumors impact a person’s brain function and overall health, depending on their size, type, and location within the brain. Tumors that grow big enough and disrupt normal central nervous system functioning can press on nearby nerves, blood vessels, or other tissues. The disrupted central nervous system can present in various ways, making walking or maintaining balance difficult.

WATCH: Hope for Glioblastoma Research

However, brain tumors do not always cause symptoms.

Other signs of brain tumors can also include:

• Headaches
• Difficulty speaking or thinking
• Weakness
• Behavioral changes
• Vision changes
• Seizures
• Loss of hearing
• Confusion
• Memory loss

Treating Brain Tumors

Treatment options for brain cancer depend on a variety of factors, including the size and type of the tumor as well as the grade of the tumor.

Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are options doctors use to treat brain tumors. Patients are encouraged to talk to their doctor about their situation and the best treatment options.

The prognosis for brain cancer, or how likely it is to be cured, depends on a few things:

• The type of brain tumor
• How fast the brain tumor is growing
• The tumor’s location
• If there are DNA changes in the cells of the brain tumor
• If the entire tumor can be removed with surgery
• Your overall health

Your doctor will be able to help you understand your specific and unique circumstances and how they relate to your prognosis.

Types of Brain Tumors

A brain tumor can affect you differently depending on its location and if it is cancerous. According to the National Cancer Institute, some examples of non-cancerous types of brain tumors include:

• Chordomas are mostly benign and slow-growing and are often found near the tailbone or where the spine meets the skull.
• Craniopharyngiomas are rare, slow-growing tumors that don’t spread to other parts of the brain or body. They form near the pituitary gland near the base of the brain.
• Gangliocytomas are rare tumors of the central nervous system that tend to form on the temporal lobe (the left or right side of the brain).
• Glomus jugulare are rare and slow-growing tumors.
• Meningiomas are rare brain tumors that usually form on the outer layer of tissue that covers the brain (dura mater).
• Pineocytomas are rare and slow-growing tumors in the pineal gland near the middle of the brain.
• Pituitary adenomas are slow-growing brain tumors of the anterior pituitary located in the lower part of the brain.
• Schwannomas are rare tumors that grow on the cells that protect nerve cells. They are called Schwann cells.
• Acoustic neuromas (vestibular schwannoma) are slow-growing tumors that develop from the nears that help balance and hearing.

Malignant or Cancerous tumors. These kinds of tumors include:

• Gliomas are the most common form of cancerous and aggressive primary brain tumors.
• Astrocytoma (glioma) forms in astrocytes (star-shaped cells). Depending on how aggressive or fast they grow and impact brain tissue, these tumors are classified into four grades.
• Ependymomas are tumors classified into three grades depending on how aggressive or fast they grow.
• Oligodendroglioma tumors are classified into grades depending on their growth speed. Grade 2 oligodendroglioma tumors are slow-growing and can invade nearby tissue, but they may not present symptoms for many years before detection. Meanwhile, grade 3 oligodendroglioma tumors proliferate.
• Medulloblastoma tumors are classified into four different grades depending on their aggressive nature or how quickly they grow.
• Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain tumor in adults. We explain this form of brain tumor in more detail below.

Glioblastoma Tumors

Glioblastoma is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor, which means her brain tumor “grows and spreads very quickly,” according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The average survival rate is 15 months with treatment and less than six if left untreated, the NCI reports. While there is a five-year survival rate of averaging 6 percent, those individuals will never be cancer-free. They must continue receiving radiation and chemotherapy for the rest of their lives.

Glioblastomas are tricky to treat and manage because their cells are heterogeneous, meaning each must be individually targeted to slow tumor growth. Surgery cannot remove all the cancer because the tumor burrows into the brain, so the tumor starts to grow again immediately after surgery.

Glioblastoma risk factors can include:

• Prior radiation exposure
• Gender: men are more likely to get glioblastoma than women
• Age: people 50 years or older
• Certain genetic syndromes, including neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, von Hippel-Lindau disease

Symptoms for glioblastoma can vary depending on the area of the brain where the tumor begins and spreads and its growth rate, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. Some common symptoms of glioblastoma can include:

• Headaches
• Seizures
• Changes in mental function, mood, or personality
• Changes in speech
• Sensory changes in hearing, smell, and sight
• Loss of balance
• Changes in your pulse and breathing rate

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