A blogger who documented her battle with cancer has died the day before she was due to be married after losing her two-year fight with a brain tumour.
Anna Swabey, 25, who ran a blog documenting her fight with the illness, had been praised for her courage and her fundraising efforts. “I cannot put into words the heartbreak we all feel, but among our sadness, we are so proud of her courage, her spirit and the determination she showed throughout her illness,” a member of her family wrote on her Facebook page, confirming her death on Friday morning.
“If ever there was a person to show us how to live, it’s Anna Louise Swabey, our beautiful, brave girl.”
Wendy Fulcher, the founder of Brain Tumour Research Campaign, for which Swabey raised money, said she was “bright, vivacious, kind, and beautiful”. Fulcher added that Swabey was “one of those to whom others are naturally drawn. She had a great sense of fun and a marvellous joie de vivre.”
Swabey, was diagnosed with the tumour two years ago and was initially told she may have as little as a few months to live. She met her fiancé Andy Bell soon after her diagnosis. The couple planned to marry in the Yorkshire Dales on Saturday but Swabey’s condition deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.
“To Andy and her family, Anna was still ‘Anna’ and not ‘Anna with a brain tumour’. This was important to her although she never shied away from reality, giving her time selflessly through interviews to help raise awareness of the disease and the appalling lack of funding to improve outcomes for patients,” Fulcher said.
Swabey also started her blog Inside My Head shortly after the diagnosis because she said she wanted to “support others who may be experiencing a similar battle”.
She wrote: “Even if one person reads one blog post and can relate to how I am feeling, and it makes them feel like they are not alone, I will view that as a success.”
She nicknamed her tumour Trev and was given hope by neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill, who leads the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Imperial College London.
Swabey spoke about how her first consultation with him had left her in “tears of happiness” because she felt they would fight the illness together. Fulcher added that Swabey had shown “gritty determination” in her campaign to raise money for O’Neill and his team’s work.
“Another bright light has gone out,” he said. “Another young person has been taken by a brain tumour, this most cruel and crippling of cancers which kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other … just one per cent of the national spend has been allocated to this devastating disease.
“Anna loved the fact that she could make a difference. She certainly did that and I am so proud that I had the opportunity to know her.”
Cancer blogger dies day before her wedding
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