Woman, 39, held her own version of Glastonbury knowing her terminal cancer meant she would not make it to the festival

A woman whose dream was to go to Glastonbury Festival but was told her cancer had made her too ill to attend organised her own version of the festival, allowing her to celebrate music with friends and family shortly before she died.

Ella Hammond, 39, from Marden in Kent, died at Hospice In The Weald in Pembury a year after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

Her father, Maurice Price, told PA Real Life how it had always been a dream of Ella’s to go to Glastonbury, and she was thrilled when she and her friends finally managed to get tickets for the event in 2024.

But he said that in the months after they secured their tickets, Ella’s cancer got worse and she had to come to terms with the fact she would not be well enough to go.

Maurice explained how horticulturalist Ella, who had been told her cancer was terminal, was very ill in hospital in the spring of 2024 and had been deliberating whether or not to go into a hospice.

He said he was surprised to get a phone call from her to say that a bed had become available and she had decided to go and stay there that night, in case it was her only chance.

When Maurice, 70, and his wife Rita, 68, went to visit her for the first time in the hospice the next morning, they saw a complete “transformation” in their daughter as she told them she had begun to make plans.

“We’ve gone from this depressed young woman, to seeing her sitting down on her bed cross-legged, which was always a good sign for Ella,” Maurice said.

“And she’s got a notebook and a whiteboard, and she told me she’d decided she was going to have a festival.

“(She said) I planned to go to Glastonbury this year. I’ve always wanted to go there, but I’m not going to be well enough, so I planned a festival on the farm based around Glastonbury. And I’ve made a list of jobs for everyone to do.”

He explained how Ella had thought of every detail for Ella Fest, which was held on a farm owned by her husband, Stuart’s, family.

Maurice went on: “It was made like a mini Glastonbury. They had some bands playing in the day and then DJs who played music based on the real Glastonbury headliners.

“A charity had arranged for there to be goats from a local sanctuary. They made their own wristbands and even had people acting as security who checked everyone’s tickets as they went in.

“They’d also paid for a converted VW campervan that was a photo booth so people could have photos to look at after the festival. And someone had made this incredible flower wall that went up behind the DJs.

“It was just a great fun, positive, lively day, and it went on into the evening as well.”

Maurice explained how through careful planning, staff at the hospice moved the times Ella received her pain and symptom control medication so she could enjoy the special day to the full.

Around 120 of Ella’s friends and family came to the festival, which was held the weekend before the real Glastonbury festival took place.

Ella died on July 1, the day after Glastonbury 2024 concluded.

Describing how Ella had been diagnosed with colon cancer, he explained how she and Stuart – whom she had married in 2019 – had been trying for a baby but had found it difficult to conceive.

Ella had also suffered a number of miscarriages.

These problems were investigated, and eventually doctors discovered she had colon cancer in August 2023, when Ella was 38.

“She had an MRI scan and an amazing radiographer recognised that part of her colon was almost completely blocked with the cancer,” Maurice said.

“So that was on a Friday, and on the Saturday they gave her emergency surgery.

“They operated and removed a large amount of her colon and lymph nodes and some various other small bits and pieces.

“A few weeks later when the biopsy and the analysis was done, they recognised that it was terminal already.”

Maurice said Ella underwent chemotherapy, but was told doctors estimated she had just two years to live.

He said: “It was emotionally exhausting on a level that didn’t feel real. But yet, at the same time, nothing can prepare you for it. I’m not sure how anyone takes all of the information on board, really.

“We discussed where she wanted to live her last days and where she wanted to die. She said she didn’t want to die in hospital, and was very clear that she didn’t want to die at home.

“She said in her last days she felt like her home wasn’t the right place for people to be coming and visiting her, and also she didn’t want her husband to have that lasting memory of their home being where she had died.”

Maurice said that nurses told them about Hospice In The Weald, but they were all still unsure about whether it was the right place for Ella.

He said: “Ella was having weekly visits to A&E to get pain relief. She ended up being admitted to hospital on a Friday, and then she phoned us and said, ‘I’m about to move… I’m being taken to the hospice because if I wait until next week, the room might not be free’.”

Maurice said that despite their reservations, when he and Rita visited Ella at the hospice the next day they could tell immediately that she was in the right place.

He said: “The staff were just incredible. A lovely touch was the chalkboard in her room, and when she arrived, they met with her and asked her to write all the things that were important to her on it.

“And you could see instantly that the next day, they had all adapted to treating her in the way that was most helpful to her – and to us. They were very, very straightforward with us about what was happening.

“At one point, Ella was living on meringues and crushed ice as her body couldn’t cope with anything else. And one of the kitchen staff taught me how to use the ice crushing machine, so that if Ella wanted some ice and no one was free, I’d be able to just go in and do that myself.

“She wanted to have a film night and a takeaway with her husband, and so some of the staff carried a sofa from another part of the building into her bedroom and moved the furniture around so that they’d be able to have that film night.

“At one point we didn’t want her to be on her own at night, so they moved her to another room where we could put mattresses on the floor, so there were three of us sleeping in the room and she never had to wake up on her own.

“It was definitely the right place to live her final days, and where she was able to die with dignity.”

In honour of Ella’s memory, Maurice is now helping to shape the Pembury hospice’s refurbishment, so future patients get the same care that his daughter did for years to come.

Maurice, who is now a volunteer at the hospice, is helping to shape the refurbishment plans alongside other patients, families, staff and volunteers.

During sessions with specialist hospice interior design team Elaine Lewis Designs and KKE Architects, Maurice has advocated for nature to be a focal point of the designs, remembering how much the hospice gardens meant to Ella, who ran her own gardening business and had a passion for the outdoors.

Maurice said: “The environment we are in tells us how much people value us. If you are in a lovely environment, you know you are valued.

“The new designs are welcoming to everyone, no matter your age, and show a place you would be happy to stay in at any time.”