Student who battled cancer during Fresher's Week graduates as star student

Ella Tyman, 21, from Skelmersdale, Merseyside, was just settling into her fresher’s dorm at Salford in September 2023 when she got the call that she was immediately needed in hospital for surgery. 

The then-18-year-old had just been diagnosed with parotid gland cancer – a rare form that was initially detected by a lump behind her ear – but after initially being told that it wasn’t of immediate concern, Ella went straight from her accommodation to the hospital after an appointment opened up.

The surgery proved to be well-timed as Ella’s cancer had wrapped around the nerves in her face – meaning an initial 45-minute operation became a six-hour ordeal as the surgeons has no choice but to cut the nerves on the left hand side of her face to remove the cancer. 

Ella said: “I was literally moving into my accommodation when I got the call that I needed to come in for the surgery.

“Initially my doctors hadn’t thought that it was as serious as it was. They had only found the lump during an appointment over an eye infection. Despite getting the diagnosis, I still wanted to go to University and started as a normal student, thinking it would soon be resolved. 

“But it was clear that it had escalated quite a bit when I went in. My cancer had basically doubled in size.”

The surgery proved to be successful but after the ordeal of the operation, Ella seriously questioned whether she could return to her studies.

“I was really considering dropping out after”, she said. 

“The left hand side of my face was paralyzed due to the nerve damage and I couldn’t blink on that side. It meant I was really anxious about even leaving the house, let alone going to university.

“I’d missed out on Fresher’s Week and my course had started so I was just very nervous but I met up with Seren, one of my flatmates, who has supported me all the way through University and my treatment. My family was also very encouraging and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support.

“I’m so glad that I came back because I’ve had such an amazing time and I’m so proud of all that I’ve achieved.”

Ella had fallen in love with her chosen course, BA Television and Radio Production, after attending one of the University’s Open Days.

She was to be the first in her family to attend and told her parents that if she didn’t get into Salford at the first attempt, she would wait another year and apply again.

It was that determination to attend and get the most out of the course that played a role in Ella decided to resume her studies where she was supported by course leader Louise Ready-Syrat.

She was able to move on from her health scares after undergoing proton therapy at The Christie in Manchester to eliminate the last remaining cancerous cells and on New Year’s Eve in 2023, she was declared cancer-free.

Now able to prioritise her studies, she then made the brave decision to apply to study abroad at Chicago’s Colombia College, spending her second year studying Film and Television at their renowned facilities for filmmaking.

Ella said: “It was honestly the best year of my life – I would recommended doing a year abroad to everyone.

“I’ve developed so much as a result of the experience. Getting that full year of independence by myself in Chicago, immersing myself in the facilities, and finding a real passion for directing and camerawork which I was then able to take back with me to Salford.

Taking advantage of the specialist college’s renowned facilities, Ella was building film sets weekly, learning how to professionally light a set and also how to direct – skills that would then be complemented by her learning back in England.

On her return for her final year, she’s thrown herself into her studies once more in addition to picking up external experience such as working with Manchester City Women’s Football Club.

Over her time at Salford, she has also been a part of the cheerleading society, Salford Sirens, which she credits as playing a ‘huge part’ in her overall University experience and that it ‘pushed me to live my life to the fullest and still be able to do things I enjoy.

Whilst she has still recently had to undergo more surgery to help with the nerve damage she sustained from the operation three years ago, she has been able to put the whole experience behind her and get everything she could possibly hope for out of her university experience.

She said: “I’m really proud of everything that I’ve achieved. I’ve gone through three years of struggling ever since it happened, but I’ve persevered and still gone to university when I could have easily turned around and not gone.

“I carried on and I’ve been able to do things that I couldn’t even have imagined as possible in my first year. I’ve come out of it all and pushed through to achieve so much.”