Tragic Passing

[red_hotxr6]

Apparently Tracey Wickham,s daughter has passed away from cancer.She was 19, now how young is that for cancer, it just doesnt discriminate does it.So sad. I have had a couple of people in my family pass away from this but like they were in there 70,s.Now it seems to be striking at the young, i wonder why?

[CrankR]

Really? That is sad to here :(

[red_hotxr6]

Yeah it was just on the 6.30 news, god, how must she feel?And also her daughter never ever complained or said why me?

[HOON69]

it hits you more when you know even the young and youthful can die from it.

[sfr rob]

who is Tracy wickham?

[HOON69]

world champion and former holder of the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle world records.

THREE hours before she died of cancer in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Tracey Wickham's daughter Hannah's most fervent wish came true: she was married.

Her wedding to Tom O'Driscoll, who she met in hospital while he, too, was being treated for cancer, was to have been held in 10 days' time at Twin Waters on Queens;and's Sunshine Coast.

But when it became clear the 19-year-old was losing her three-year battle with cancer and fading fast, arrangements hurriedly were made for a bedside ceremony to be performed at Brisbane's Wesley Hospital.

"That was her dying wish," a distraught Wickham said yesterday. "There were about 20 people there, family, close friends and a couple of her nurses. It was a beautiful ceremony. And then she was gone."

Hannah's death came three years to the day since she first noticed a lump in her leg.

Even when she was diagnosed with one of the most virulent forms of cancer, Ewing's sarcoma, the teenager always insisted that she would survive it.

But though she went into remission a number of times, the cancer always returned, more aggressive than before.

"She never once complained, never once asked, 'Why me?"' said Wickham, a dual swimming world champion and former holder of the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle world records.

"To the end, she was brave and in good spirits.

"Right from when she was a little girl, we would always play the game of being first to say 'a pinch and a punch for the first of the month' and soon after midnight on October 1, she sent me that text message. But soon after that, she started to fade."

O'Driscoll was too distressed to speak to the media yesterday, but Wickham, who also has a son, Daniel, said her one source of comfort was that her daughter had been granted her dying wish to marry him.

Hannah's funeral service will be held on Sunday at 2pm (AEST) at the chapel of All Hallows School where, until two years ago, she had been a student.

"It's my old school as well and my nieces are about to go there, so that's what Hannah wanted," her mother said.

Wickham held Australia's longest-standing swimming record until August this year when Brisbane teenager Bronte Barratt broke her 400m freestyle record in Japan.

The record had stood since 1978. Wickham was awarded an MBE for services to swimming in 1979 and was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame in 1986 and the World Swimming Hall of Fame in 1992.

[Duke]

I can't imagine having to battle the Big C. let alone doing it at just 16 and then fighting for the next 3 years.

A courageous effort in any man's language.

[red_hotxr6]

Originally Posted by OpTrader

I can't imagine having to battle the Big C. let alone doing it at just 16 and then fighting for the next 3 years.

A courageous effort in any man's language.

I was just about to say, i never even knew that she was battling away with it..why cant we find a cure for this thing..

[[Tonko]]

Originally Posted by OpTrader

I can't imagine having to battle the Big C. let alone doing it at just 16 and then fighting for the next 3 years.

A courageous effort in any man's language.

Well said,
Too young to be taken away, I can think of more deserving people...

[woodsy109]

Certainly was sad. My mum babysat her a few times when she was 4 or 5. Didn't really know her though.

[conordec]

very sad story

rip