A University of Salford student was left unable to move the left side of her face after surgeons had to cut some of her facial nerves during a six-hour operation to remove a rare cancer.
Ella Tyman, now 21, was preparing to begin her TV and radio degree when her plans were suddenly thrown into chaos by a devastating diagnosis. The teenager had initially visited a walk-in clinic in March 2023 believing she had an eye infection. During the appointment, a doctor spotted a lump around an inch long behind her left ear.
She was referred to Aintree Hospital because of her age and the unusual nature of the lump. "I was a bit worried about my eye infection but I left with a whole new worry about the lump," Ella said. "I'm lucky he noticed it though, I hadn't."
Diagnosis and surgery
Over the following five months, Ella underwent two CT scans, an ultrasound, an MRI and two biopsies. On August 10, 2023, she was given the devastating news that she had parotid gland cancer – a rare form of head and neck cancer.
"Looking back it was scary, but at the time I just thought 'it'll be okay, they'll sort it'," she said. "I just planned for university and my future and then it all went wrong."
Ella had been expecting to have the tumour removed towards the end of September. But on September 5, she received a phone call offering her an earlier operation because of a cancellation. She was told the procedure was expected to take around 45 minutes and that she would probably need about a week to recover. Instead, the operation on September 6 became a six-hour procedure after surgeons discovered the cancer had grown significantly.
Facing the aftermath
By that point, the tumour had doubled in size and was wrapped around nerves controlling Ella's face. Doctors had to cut some of the nerves in order to remove the cancer. When Ella came round from the anaesthetic, she immediately realised something was wrong. "When I woke up I knew straight away. I could feel that my face wasn't working," she said. "It was frightening. My face felt really odd and I could see in everyone's faces that something really bad had happened while I'd been under the anaesthetic."
The impact was particularly difficult because Ella had expected the operation to be relatively straightforward. "Having a cancer diagnosis was scary, but we were all expecting it to be a simple procedure and about a week to recover, so I was feeling okay."
After the surgery, the left side of her face was paralysed and drooped. It was four months before Ella felt able to properly look at herself in a mirror or put on make-up. She was also facing the prospect of starting university just days after the life-changing operation. Despite everything she had been through, Ella began her TV and radio studies at Salford University on September 15, 2023.
"It was so scary meeting everyone. I was feeling very fragile," she said. "It was horrible, but I would have felt worse if I'd kept sitting at home doing nothing. I knew I was going to love my course."
Treatment and recovery
Her cancer treatment continued alongside her new university life. In November 2023, Ella began a course of 33 rounds of proton therapy at Christie's Hospital in Manchester to destroy any cancer cells that may have remained following surgery. The treatment left her extremely unwell, but it ultimately brought the news she had been hoping for. "Proton therapy made me really ill, but I was cancer-free after that," she said. "It felt like a weight lifted, and I was able to make a fresh start and start going out again."
Although Ella has now been declared cancer-free, she continues to live with the consequences of the operation. She has around 30 Botox injections every three months to relax the muscles in her face, which have to work harder because of the nerve damage. She also spends five minutes each morning doing facial exercises and massages. In May 2026, she underwent further surgery, including a facelift. Her jowls were repositioned and fat was taken from her stomach to fill a hollow area in her face.
She has regained a small amount of movement and can now partially close her left eye and lift her cheek slightly. However, she still needs to use a special sticker to keep her left eye closed while she sleeps.
The changes to her appearance have been one of the hardest parts of her experience. "I signed the form about risks, but I didn't think much about it. I just wanted the tumour out," Ella said. "I hated the way I looked, and I worried so much about what people might say to me." At one point, she came close to giving up university altogether.
But Ella said she was determined not to let the cancer take away something she had been looking forward to. "I was so close to giving up university, but I was really excited about my course, and I wanted to meet new people," she said. "I'm so glad I did it, I'm so much more confident again now."
Now, after completing her degree, Ella is looking for her first job in the film and television industry. She admits she still has difficult days and sometimes mourns how she looked before the cancer, but says surviving the disease has changed her outlook on life. "I still have down days when I worry about how I look, and I grieve my old looks, but I've come through this and I feel amazing," she said. "If I can survive cancer at 18, then I can do anything."
