A 17-YEAR-OLD girl who beat cancer three times after going through four years of chemotherapy has died from coronavirus complications.
Aspen Deke died from complications of Covid-19 on Saturday, her family said, saying she passed away in her mother’s and father’s arms.
The high school junior had been diagnosed with the rare Philadelphia chromosome positive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age four.
She was given a dire diagnosis then, but went on to beat three forms of the cancer in her lifetime.
She was then diagnosed with Covid-19 in November 2020.
After going through four years of chemo and a bone marrow transplant, Deke was experiencing even worse conditions with Covid-19.
“At least with cancer, as bad as it sounds and it is scary, but there’s a lot that you know about it,” Aspen’s dad Eric Deke said. “They can say, ‘This is how bad it is, this is what we are going to do. This is what we expect.'”
Deke was rushed to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri two weeks before Christmas, and was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit since New Year’s Eve.
She spent most of that time intubated on a ventilator.
Her friends and family said Deke loved baking cakes and cupcakes.
She would often buy presents for her parents, brothers and friends at school, as well as other patients she met while receiving cancer treatments at Children’s Mercy.
