Ella's Story
Ella's Story
Ella was a successful 24 year old aspiring artist with a great passion for travel, nature, yoga and love for life and people! In August 2019, whilst travelling in Colombia, shortly after graduating from Newcastle University, Ella was diagnosed with PH+ ALL, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer.
Since that time, Ella was under almost constant treatment, including over 70 Chemotherapy infusions, 6 months of Immunotherapy, several rounds of radiotherapy followed by CAR-T therapy and a gruelling Stem Cell Transplant in October 2020.
Despite the extent of this treatment regime, this aggressive cancer kept coming back and sadly, Ella was given a terminal diagnosis in January 2021 of weeks/months. In June 2021 Ella experienced the biggest blow ever when her acceptance on a CAR -T clinical trial in the US ( a potential cure) was cancelled merely a few hours before she was due to board the plane to the States. Unfortunately, Ella's condition deteriorated after this and she sadly passed away in July, 2021.
Despite her life situation, Ella was always a true inspiration and she faced every day with gratitude, positivity, incredible strength, bravery and humour.
When Ella was diagnosed, she found that wellbeing support tailored towards the unique needs of young adults with cancer in the UK was limited. Ella was determined to create a blueprint for better wellbeing support of young adults with cancer.
This included guidance on eating well to support recovery, finding safe and manageable ways of keeping fit and active, introducing mindful practices such as yoga, meditation, journaling, and complimentary therapies into everyday life. Ella was also driven to support and connect with other young people going through the same lived experience. Ella saw this as vital to help her withstand 2 years of gruelling treatment as well as allowing her to thrive and live happily every single day despite her challenging diagnosis.
In 2019, to help others who found themselves with a similar diagnosis, Ella created a successful blog of her health journey including advice on nutrition, exercise and staying positive during treatment.
She worked closely with blood cancer charities to help and support others and she continued to develop her extensive knowledge of physical and mental health, wellbeing and self-healing which inevitably increased her quality of life, mental strength and appreciation of life.
We are so proud of the incredible inspirational person she was and everything she achieved and everything we do reflects Ella's ethos to live every single day with purpose, gratitude, and positivity.
We strive to give young adults with cancer the tools they need to feel in control, to be empowered, to thrive and live well with cancer.