"All she wanted to do was make sure everyone around her was happy,” Patel's little brother said about his sister.
When 21-year-old Jenna Patel noticed a lump on her shoulder, the doctor she visited allegedly told her it was “nothing to worry about.”
She saw the lump which would claim her life during her second year of training as a part of her teaching degree at Edge Hill University, according to New York Post.
When the lump started to grow, Patel was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that causes tumors to grow in the bones or in the surrounding soft tissues. Unfortunately, her treatment, which included chemotherapy and participating in clinical trials, stopped working and cancer soon spread to her lungs. Doctors informed her that they couldn't do anything more just two weeks before her death.
Patel, who had wanted to become a teacher from a very young age, died on May 13, less than a year after she was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in July last year.
Paying tribute to Patel, her younger brother Liam, 17, described her as “bubbly” and said she was “always smiling”.
“Jenna was always making sure everyone else was alright before herself," he told Manchester Evening News. “There was not a time of the day when she was not smiling. We were really close and did everything together.”
He added, “She came home one day and called me over. She said I have a little lump on my shoulder, and I told her it does not look so bad but to get it checked out. She went to the doctor and they said ‘it’s nothing to worry about, we think it’s a cyst’."
“It carried on growing so she went back. After a few more tests, we found out it was something worse."
Patel's cancer diagnosis came just months after her dad went into remission following a battle with brain cancer. Liam said Patel maintained a positive outlook despite her loved ones fearing the worst.
“She just wanted to crack on and get it sorted. That was just Jenna. All she wanted to do was make sure everyone around her was happy.”
A GoFundMe has been set up in Patel's name to raise funds for Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Trust, which supports families and funds research into the disease. The page has raised some money and for that Liam is grateful.
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"It’s nice to see how many people cared about her. She had so many great friends and they have all been helping out with the fundraiser. It’s been hard but it’s nice to talk about all the memories we have of Jenna."
References:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-loving-memory-of-our-beautiful-jenna
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe | In Loving Memory of Our Beautiful Jenna
