Mount Maunganui’s Ella Weatherall vows to help others after brain tumour treatment

Supplied copy It came out of the blue, leaving one Mount Maunganui family in the dark. Now Ella Weatherall, a local lifeguard and teenager at Mount Maunganui College, is hoping to shine light on how a brain tumour changed her life this year and the steps she’s taking to help others. Ella’s nightmare began in April, with the then-16-year-old suffering a week of virus-like symptoms, which came to a head – literally – on April 19.

With symptoms persisting, she was taken to Tauranga Hospital for further checks and, within hours, was on her way to Waikato Hospital by ambulance after scans revealed a brain tumour in her cerebellum..