In 2017, 24-year-old Laura Thompson was living her dream, having just co-founded a natural skincare company, now known as Three Ships.

She’d been having what she thought were minor episodes, where for 10 to 15 seconds she felt a strong disassociation between her mind and her body.

“All of a sudden, I would feel like I wasn’t really there,” she says. “I was still conscious during that period of time, but I wouldn’t be able to talk or respond to somebody.”

It was during a visit to B.C. to see family that her mom, a family doctor, witnessed Laura having one such episode. Concerned, she wrote a letter to Laura’s family doctor in Toronto to explain what she saw.

Seeking answers

Laura’s doctor then referred her to a neurologist, who put Laura through a series of tests but was not convinced she had anything to worry about. Figuring she was young and healthy, he attributed her episodes to factors like stress or not sleeping well enough.

“I was in the epilepsy monitoring unit for a whole week, sending emails from my laptop in my bed while other patients were having seizures around me throughout the night,” Laura recalls.

As her episodes, which she later learned were seizures, happened so infrequently, doctors weren’t able to detect them during her time there.

She also took part in a narcolepsy study, amongst other tests, before she was finally sent for an MRI on Halloween night, in 2019.

The importance of patient advocacy

“That’s when they found the actual tumour,” Laura says. “I don’t think my doctor was expecting it. His words were, ‘Fine, I’ll order a scan for you because you keep asking, but I’m telling you there’s not going to be anything there.’”

“It’s a true sign of the importance of patient advocacy and shows that you know your body and your symptoms.”

She describes feeling like something was tugging at the back of her eye, which is where her tumour— grade two astrocytoma—was eventually found.

“It was both reassuring and validating to be like, ‘Okay, I’m not making this up,’” Laura says. “Obviously, I didn’t want to have this diagnosis, but it was just a relief to know that we had uncovered what was happening.”

An unexpected reveal

She’d unexpectedly learned of her diagnosis before she was intended to, having seen her scan during the MRI process—which was initially a shock, but gave her time to mentally prepare before meeting with her doctor.

“I have a tendency to pass out when a needle is involved,” Laura says, adding that’s unfortunately what happened after she was given a contrast injection during her MRI. As the nurse monitored Laura’s blood pressure when the MRI was finished, she happened to see the scan of her brain.

“If you Googled ‘brain tumour,’ that’s the image that would come up,” she says, of the image that clearly showed a mass in her brain. “You start trying to rationalize—it’s because I’ve taken too long in the scanner, or she’s pulling up the next patient’s file. But I knew, in that moment, that was my scan and those were my images.”

Facing surgery and a pandemic

Laura had surgery in March 2020, and was discharged from the hospital three days before Toronto experienced a COVID-19 lockdown.

She spent the next four weeks recovering while sharing her small apartment with her parents, who had come to visit. She describes that time as destabilizing, not knowing what was going on with the COVID-19 pandemic while also having to navigate her recovery.

“Looking back, it was kind of a spiritual time for me because it gave me this totally different perspective on life and what matters and the impact that you want to have within the world,” Laura says. “Three Ships became a real source of motivation and inspiration to push through my journey and my recovery.”

Considering treatment options

She was eager to pitch her business on Dragon’s Den, though her appearance was set to take place shortly after her six-month follow-up MRI detected a slight tumour regrowth.

Laura asked to delay the chemotherapy and radiation her doctor suggested, later asking to hold off on it altogether when she heard of a clinical trial for vorasidenib. The trial for this cancer drug, which treats certain low-grade gliomas, was happening in the U.S., and Laura had to be a year out from her surgery—as well as not receiving chemotherapy or radiation—to qualify.

She participated in the trial for two years, with the drug receiving Health Canada approval in October 2024.

“I feel very lucky that that I could be on it for so long before it became available to the public,” Laura says.

She also feels fortunate that what doctors thought was tumour regrowth, seems have been post-surgical changes.

Living with the ups and downs

“Every scan is still as terrifying, in many ways, as that first one was, because I think that all cancer patients, or at least myself, have a little bit of trauma from their initial diagnosis,” Laura says. “I still worry about transformations—what that would mean for the life I have now—for my now-husband, for the company. But you have to learn how to compartmentalize those concerns and remind yourself that none of us are promised any amount of time.”

“Each day is truly a gift.”

Laura’s experience has helped shape her perspective in all areas of her life, particularly in business.

“It contextualizes so many of the ups and downs that come with entrepreneurship,” Laura says. “It’s made me a more capable founder because it takes a lot to ruffle and overwhelm me after this experience.”

Giving back

Laura’s company, Three Ships, is proudly sponsoring the 2025 Brain Tumour Walk in Edmonton and Toronto, and Laura is also a Toronto Brain Tumour Walk ambassador. When asked what made her want to get involved, Laura says it was the support she received early in her diagnosis.

“I was given the patient handbook and I read that thing cover to cover,” Laura says, adding it was helpful to read about the patient experience and facts rather than fall down the rabbit hole of online research.

“I think having a trusted resource is so critical,” Laura says, “and I think it’s important to spread awareness of what the patient experience is like after a cancer diagnosis, and more broadly, awareness of brain tumours.”

From Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada:

We’d like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to Laura, for so kindly and enthusiastically participating as our Toronto Brain Tumour Walk ambassador, and for her generosity in sponsoring the Toronto and Edmonton Brain Tumour Walks alongside her company, Three Ships. We couldn’t do what we do without the continued support of our incredible community!