A STUDENT died at the age of 19 when her “sports injury” was discovered to be cancer.
Lulu Blundell experienced shoulder soreness during rugby practice and was subsequently diagnosed with terminal cancer.
In 2019, she was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare kind of cancer that affects the bones or the tissue around the bones.
Lulu, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, experienced months of grueling treatment before being told she was cancer-free after having her leg amputated.
However, while studying at Newcastle University, she developed a shoulder discomfort.
It was first attributed to activity, but a CT scan revealed she had new tumors in her shoulder, ribs, and chest, and she was given just months to live.
Lulu spent the next few months traveling with friends and relatives, determined not to let her illness hold her back.
She even attended a music festival and ran a 5k charity run, earning £21,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Lulu, who played rugby for the Sheffield RUFC and Wakefield Trinity, died on January 1, 2023, at the age of 19.
“I found out my cancer has come back in four spots, and I have made the decision not to go through chemo,” the adolescent said in a heartbreaking footage released after her death.
“[I’d] rather be on palliative care and keep all my pain under control until we no longer can.
“Despite being told I have relapsed, and now being terminally ill I’ve laughed and loved harder than I ever have in my life the past few months.”
Her mum Carolyn Blundell, added: “There was a lot more to Lulu than her cancer.
“She was a normal teenager, not a geeky goody two shoes.
“She had a lust for life, for people, and a spontaneity that was infectious – if she wanted to do something, she did it.
“During her journey she showed positivity, courage, determination and fierce independence and never ever allowed it to stop her making the most of every moment.
“She smiled and she lit up a room, she laughed and lived and loved very hard and whilst she should have stayed with us longer, we are grateful for every moment.”
