Who is Angel?
Prom 2016. She was so excited to get hair extensions and finally have long hair one more time.
The best way to describe Angel is through her favorite quote by her favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn: ""Happy girls are the prettiest."" Angel lived these words every day of her life, all 6,869 of them. She had a smile that would light up the room and it very rarely left her face. She loved to laugh and joke around with people and often stumped many with her witty remarks.
Angel had big dreams - she wanted to pursue her passion of becoming a make-up artist on Broadway. She loved the theatre and all of the magic that goes into making each production come to life on stage, and she wanted to be right in the middle of it all. She also loved music and spent hours listening to her vinyls or playing her keyboard, guitar and ukulele.
She was kind and generous, fearless and ambitious, and she never wanted to miss a second of life. The love she had for her family and friends, especially her baby sister, was unwavering. She couldn't stand to see people in pain and always wanted to help others, especially other children fighting cancer.
Angel's cancer story
No picture was complete without her famous peace sign.
Angel was 15 years old when she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in October 2013, just a few shorts months into her sophomore year. Ewing's is a rare form of bone cancer, with only about 200 cases diagnosed each year. Angel's tumor was located on her left rib cage. Initially, surgery was not an option, but after more than three months of chemotherapy, the tumor shrank enough that Angel's surgeon believed she would be successful in removing at least a large portion of the tumor. On Feb. 28, 2014, the tumor was removed, along with three ribs.
After almost 1 1/2 years of treatment (including many months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation), Angel had finally kicked cancer's butt.
Angel had 15 wonderful months being cancer free, but on April 6, 2016, we heard the word that no family wants to hear -- relapse. Her cancer had come back with a vengeance. Once again, she was thrown back into the world of chemo, hair loss, trials, clinic visits, ICU stays and more. We heard bad news after bad news, but she refused to give up. She was determined to beat this stupid monster again!
She fought hard for more than 5 months, but her body grew tired. At 12:40 p.m. Sept. 18, 2016, Angel truly became an angel. She was only 18 years old.
