THE fundraising launched in memory of Ellesmere teenager Ella McCreadie has paid for 11 days of brain tumour research, it has been revealed.
Ella died in her sleep, aged 13, from an undiagnosed brain tumour in December 2022 and her parents, Alastair McCreadie and Sophie Penrose, were able to visit the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), near London, which has received a £500,000 funding boost.
On Tuesday, September 10, Sophie and Alastair, placed 11 tiles on the Wall of Hope at the charity’s Centre of Excellence at ICR, representing 11 days of research they are sponsoring in Ella’s memory.
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The Centre focuses on finding a cure for paediatric high-grade gliomas – the deadliest of all childhood cancers, and the type which killed Ella.
Alastair said: “This is wonderful news which will bring much-needed hope to families affected by a brain tumour diagnosis.
“Funding into research to bring about better outcomes for brain tumour patients has been woefully neglected for years.
“We’ve seen radical improvements in survival rates from leukaemia and breast cancer due to substantial investment into research, but not for brain tumours, where treatment options have barely changed in decades.”
It was revealed that Ella’s death was as a result of a haemorrhage caused by a high-grade diffuse glioma.
In the days before she passed, Ella seemed to have a bit of a sickness bug.
Sophie said: “She’d spent a lot of the weekend riding her horse Bliss and was perfectly fine, but on the Monday, Ella was sick and remained off school until the Thursday, vomiting from time to time, but totally fine in between.
“She then had a day back at school feeling okay, so I thought things were looking up, but after school she was sick again and for the very first time complained of a headache, so I gave her some pain relief and tucked her into bed as usual.
“I remember thinking I’d get Ella an appointment with the GP the next day just for a check-up But devastatingly the next morning was too late.”
Sophie added: “As broken as I am, I would have been even more broken if Ella had lived to endure endless operations and treatment, knowing she didn’t stand a chance of surviving this awful tumour and knowing as a mother there was nothing I could have done to help her.
“I try to comfort myself that Ella died peacefully in her sleep.”
Sophie added her happiness at how the £47,000 raised by ‘Ella’s Army’, with another walk planned for Saturday, September 28, has played its part.
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Louise Aubrey, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re really grateful to Sophie and Alastair for their fundraising in Ella’s memory and hope that the visit to our Centre of Excellence at ICR offered a useful insight into all we’re doing to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, find a cure.”
To donate to Ella’s Army fundraising for Brain Tumour Research go to www.justgiving.com/campaign/ellasarmy
To find out more and register for one of our Walk of Hope events, or sign up to do your own, go to www.walk-of-hope.org
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