‘Beautiful’ 19-year-old student died just months after being told she had vitamin D deficiency

WHEN Ellie Watts started feeling dizzy during her dress fitting for her mother’s wedding, they put it down to dehydration.

But after her dizziness continued for several weeks, Catherine O’Connor took her daughter to her family doctor.

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Ellie had some blood tests, which came back normal, so they assumed her symptoms were nothing to worry about.

Turns out they couldn’t be more wrong; they were warning signs of a brain tumor.

Ellie was later diagnosed with grade 1 pilocytic astrocytoma and suffered from hydrocephalus – a build-up of fluid in the brain.

She underwent surgery, which removed most of the tumor, and Ellie remained stable for 14 months.

But in October 2023, she showed new signs of hydrocephalus, suffered cardiac arrest and died at age 19.

Her mother, Catherine, wants to share her daughter’s story to help prevent other families from going through the same pain.

She said: “Ellie was very special. She was so much fun and just the most amazing person to be around.

“All the tributes we received after her death talked about how beautiful she was inside and out, and about her smile and positivity.

“I hope that by sharing Ellie’s story and raising money for Brain Tumor Research, other lives can be saved.”

Catherine, from Dartford, Kent, first noticed her daughter’s symptoms at the end of August 2021, during her final dress fitting for her wedding the following month.

“She was almost swaying and said she felt a little unsteady and was getting dizzy,” she said.

“At 5ft 7in and weighing just 5lbs, she was small and I thought she probably just needed some water.

“When she was still dizzy in October, I told her to go to the doctor for a checkup.”

Ellie had some blood tests, which came back normal, and was asked to return to have her vitamin B12 level tested, which also came back fine.

She made another appointment in January to discuss what else could be wrong, and was told that she “probably had a vitamin D deficiency.”

Doctors also advised her to take an antihistamine to ease her dizziness and to drink more water.

This seemed to work, Catherine said, but in April Ellie started feeling sick and vomiting “out of nowhere.”

Her headaches also returned and she frequently sweated from her upper lip.

I started crying. I was struggling to breathe and felt so bad that Ellie had to hold me when she was the one who had the brain tumor

CatherineMother

“At that time she was going out socially and we attributed it to something she ate or drank,” she added.

Ellie, 18, had to take several days off from her part-time job at John Lewis, Bluewater, before undergoing further medical tests.

An MRI scan at a private clinic in Hornchurch, Essex, in August 2022 revealed an “abnormality” and she was admitted to Darent Valley Hospital.

Catherine said: “She was tied to machines, fitted with a cannula and had her blood drawn.

“The next thing we knew, we were told Ellie had a brain tumor.

“I started crying when she told me not to worry and that everything would be fine.

“I was struggling to breathe and felt so bad that Ellie had to hold me down when she was the one who had the brain tumour.”

Catherine’s husband Chris rushed to the ward and the family were given the blue light to King’s College Hospital in London, where they discovered Ellie also had hydrocephalus.

A neurosurgeon explained that Ellie had a tumor in her cerebellum that was pressing on her brain stem and causing fluid to accumulate.

‘Dripping sweat’

The surgery to remove it took seven hours and, miraculously, Ellie was able to walk without assistance just two days later.

Within two months, she returned to work and started her criminology and criminal justice course at the University of Greenwich.

At her last check-up in July 2023, the family breathed a sigh of relief when doctors confirmed that her tumor remained stable.

But weeks later, Ellie started experiencing headaches and vomiting again.

Catherine took her straight to the emergency room, where she began “dripping sweat and becoming uncoordinated.”

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“I had to support her when we were called into a room with just a chair and a table,” Catherine said.

“Ellie’s hair was soaking wet and I thought she was going to pass out when I sat her down.

“I told the doctor what was happening and said, ‘This is very serious, you have to help her now.’

“’Oh my God,’ she said, before leaving and returning with a wheelchair, looking really panicked.

“She literally took Ellie to the CT scanner with me in front, opening all the doors.

“A few hours later, a doctor shouted, ‘Put her into resuscitation, she has hydrocephalus.’

“I was told we needed to wait another three hours for Ellie to have an MRI, but I knew she didn’t have that long and said I wanted her transferred to King’s.”

We were told the damage was catastrophic

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Finally, at 5:45 am, an ambulance arrived.

“As she was about to leave, Ellie started making strange noises and the driver ran to get a recorder,” Catherine said.

“Ellie was taken out of the ambulance to be stabilized and once she was able to resuscitate, they started CPR.

“It took eight minutes to get her back and she never woke up after that.”

Ellie was taken to King’s for the operation, but her brain “didn’t respond as they would have liked”.

A scan the next morning revealed that his brain stem had been pushed into his spine.

“We were told the damage was catastrophic and the only thing keeping her alive was her life support,” the mother said.

“She was on the donor list, so she was kept alive until the next day.

“In total, my wonderful daughter donated five organs.”

More than 150 people attended Ellie’s funeral and together they raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Catherine, who ran the Norfolk Marathon on April 28, said: “Ellie’s death is a huge loss but she will live on, not just in the people she donated organs to, but in all those who knew and loved her.” .

Hugo Adam, from Brain Tumor Researchsaid: “Ellie’s story serves as a stark reminder of the indiscriminate nature of brain tumors, which can affect anyone at any time.

“We are determined to change this, but only by working together will we be able to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, find a cure.

“Brain tumors kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, but only one percent of national spending on cancer research has been attributed to this devastating disease since records began in 2002.”

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