Parents of teen who died in her sleep from tumour with no symptoms urge community to back research
Ella McCreadie was just 13 years old when she fell asleep one night and never woke up. She was later found to have died from an undiagnosed brain tumour.
It was Ella's parents, Sophie Penrose, 32, and Alastair McCreadie, 36, from Ellesmere, who found her in her bed on December 9 last year.
Ella was a Year 8 pupil at Lakelands Academy in Ellesmere and an enthusiastic horse rider. She has two siblings - Niall, 11, and Shay, seven.
A coroner's report later found the schoolgirl had suffered a haemorrhage caused by a high-grade diffuse glioma, a kind of brain tumour.
In a joint statement, Ella's parents said: “We didn’t even know she had this. Ella’s brain tumour was discovered during the autopsy. She had no symptoms at all which is scary."
Mum Sophie added: “Five days before, Ella was riding her horse called Bliss and the day before she died, she was in school. She went to bed Thursday and never woke up.”
Once the devastating news came to light there was an outpouring of support from the local community, including local crafters making one-off pink products to raise awareness of the disease. Pupils of Lakelands Academy also took part in a read-a-thon and 'wear it pink' day in memory of Ella.
