She had endured 18 months of misdiagnosis, excruciating pain, extreme fatigue and ongoing illness and was headed for risky surgery.

But on Sunday, the now 23-year-old completed a remarkable and "roller coaster" journey to take the field for Warners Bay in the Herald Women's Premier League at John Street Oval.

A very large aggressive brain tumour known as a schwannoma located in Stapleford's sinus cavity was found in April 2015. She had surgery to remove it the following month.

“At the start, when they found it, it was a 2.5cm [tumour],” Stapleford said.

“A few days before surgery I had another MRI [scan] which showed the tumour had grown a significant amount in a very short period of time.”

Operating on Stapleford was internationally renowned neurosurgeon Charlie Teo.

He went through the possible and serious side effects of surgery “and the biggest possibility of not waking from surgery”.

“At the consultation he said there was a good chance my left eye would be closed forever … he said soccer is probably not looking good if that happens,” Stapleford said.

“I was positive before surgery but the whole soccer thing, I wasn’t even thinking about that.

“I was just thinking I’ve got to get through surgery because he was pretty sure that something was going to be affected … somehow he did the unthinkable and got it all out with nothing really, a little bit of loss of feeling in my face, but I can live with that.”

Stapleford was among the most promising female footballers in Northern NSW as a teenager and was playing for Valentine in the Herald Women’s Premier League when she began to feel that something was not quite right.

But her condition went undiagnosed for nearly 18 months.

“I was actually still playing and I was getting really dizzy and all of the doctors put it down to Chronic Fatigue [Syndrome] and said I could keep playing if I wanted to but it was going to be a struggle,” she said.

“I wanted to play because I love it but it just got too much. There was one game at Valentine, the ball was up in the air and I went to look up and there were just balls everyone; I didn’t know which one the real one was and I thought, it can’t be chronic fatigue, it’s got to be something else.”

That was in 2014. She had already decided not to play in 2015 because “it was hard enough going to work” before the diagnosis.

After a long recovery, she was finally able to go back to work last year and also started thinking about football again.

She first needed the all clear for a heart condition, called Sinus Tachycardia, which was diagnosed shortly after surgery and requires her to wear a heart rate monitor on the field and be closely monitored from the sideline.

On Sunday, there was plenty of emotion around the ground as Stapleford took the field against Adamstown.

She played wide on the left, was strong on the ball and made some penetrating runs down the flank for the defending champions.

But she was just glad to be out there again. 

“It’s been really hard but it feels good to come back, that’s for sure,” Stapleford said after the game.

“I was so nervous today but it felt so good. I’m probably not as good as I was but hopefully I get better and I think confidence is the key. That has given me a lot of confidence.”

She was not looking too far ahead but would “love to make Jets if I’m good enough”.

“But I’m just happy to play; I’m just happy to be out there, feeling fit, and the girls around me are awesome, they always support me,” she said.

She said the support of the football and wider community, which raised $65,000 in a Goal For Sophie campaign in 2015, “literally got me through everything”.