Boston community rallies round Ella, 18, and her family after brain tumour diagnosis

​Ella Pick has just completed a six-week course of radiotherapy at Nottingham City Hospital for the diffuse midline glioma located in her brain stem.

The tumour was discovered in July after Ella developed problems with her sight. Ahead of this, she had experienced migraines for some years, but it is not known if these were related to the tumour or not.

The prognosis is desperately sad – Ella has been given a timescale of a year, maybe less, maybe a little more. The treatment that she has undergone aims to help with the symptoms alone.

Speaking to The Standard, Ella’s mum, Lisa Lonsdale, 51, said the family is in delief.

“We are just numb,” she said. “It has knocked us for bits. You can't explain. You read about it and you think ‘that poor family’, but you never think it's goign to happen to you.”

Ella studied travel and tourism at Boston College with the hope of becoming an air stewardess. The day before Lisa spoke to The Standard, Ella received a job interview offer with British Airways following an application … .

“I had to ask them to remove her from the list,” Lisa said, tearfully.

“It was her dream job from when kids say what they want to do.”

An outpouring of support for Ella and her family has followed her diagnosis.

At the time of writing, a GoFundMe page has received donations totalling £16,071.

The appeal was launched by Naomi Atkin, 46, of Kirton, a long-term friend of Lisa’s. She described Ella as ‘bubbly’ and ‘kind and caring’.

A major aim of the appeal, she said, is to pay for experiences for Ella, to ‘make the dreams that she had for the future a reality’.

Naomi described the response to the appeal as ‘phenomenal’, especially in light of the cost of living crisis.

She said: “The amount that has been raised in such a short space of time is beyond words.”

At Ella’s workplace, Tesco, colleagues held a five-day collection in support of her, swapping uniforms for pink clothing or special sunflower t-shirts made by LKTs Designs in aid of Ella. In all, more than £5,450 was collected. A sponsored silence by co-worker Julia Drury, meanwhile, added £570 to the total.

Tesco community champion Alison Lynch said as well as raising funds, the effort also aimed to give Ella ‘morale-boosting support’.

“We wanted to show her we were all behind her,” she said.

Next month, HGV driver Quinn Moncler, 37, of Boston, will be running from Tesco’s branch in Skegness to Boston in aid of the family.

Quinn, who only became aware of Ella after seeing posts about her situation on Facebook, said: “I felt I needed to do something.”

Currently, his appeal has raised more than £800.

Other fundraising efforts have included a fun day at the PRSA and the raffle of boxing boots donated by Callum Johnson. Other shows of support have included Boston entrepreneur Alistair Arundell taking Ella up in a plane over Boston.

Lisa gave thanks to everyone who has offered support. She said the family were ‘overwhelmed’ by the donations, especially at this tough economic time – a family holiday has now been booked to Turkey next month, when Ella turns 19. However, Lisa also spoke of how much the well wishes have meant to them, too.

“People have just been fantastic,” she said.

* You can support the GoFundMe appeal at https://tinyurl.com/GoFundMeElla and Quinn’s appeal at https://tinyurl.com/JustGivingElla or by calling him on 07389 849118.