Schoolgirl, dies from rare cancer after having her eye socket removed

Schoolgirl, 15, dies from rare cancer despite getting the all clear after having her eye socket removed

• Aleksandra Celic, 15, passed away after battling a rare cancer for over six years
• The school girl was first diagnosed with chordoma cancer when she was seven
• It was initially diagnosed as a cyst but a biopsy and MRI scan showed otherwise 
• She was cleared of cancer after numerous treatments but it returned last year
• Her mother, Dana Celic, said Alek was ‘so brave’ about the removal of her eye

A teenage girl has died after battling a rare cancer for more than six years despite believing she had beaten the disease.

Aleksandra Celic, known as Alek, passed away earlier this month following the removal of her eye socket and a diagnosis of chordoma cancer.

The 15-year-old from Orpington, London, was first diagnosed with cancer when she was just seven after complaining to doctors of a lazy eye at a Bromley GP. 

Although Alek was given the all clear after numerous treatments, including the removal of her eye socket, last year she received news that the cancer had come back.

The school girl and her family were then told that nothing more could be done to save her, My London reported.

Aleksandra Celic, 15, was first told that the lump behind her eye was ‘just a cyst’ before an MRI scan and biopsy identified it to be chordoma cancer

Her mother, Dana Celic, 37, told My London: ‘She must have been so scared.

‘When they told her that there was nothing they can do she asked, ”am I going to die?”. They said ”yes”. I think she was worried at first and then after she was okay.’

Chordoma cancer is a slow developing bone disease that usually affects people between 40 and 60 and is said to be difficult for doctors to identify.

Alek’s doctors initially thought that a lump behind her eye was ‘just a cyst’, but an MRI scan and biopsy identified it to be a type of cancer that only affects one person per 800,000 each year, according to the Bone Cancer Research Trust.

Dana Celic, Alek’s mother, said ‘she must have been so scared’ when told that her cancer could not be treated

Ms Celic praised Alek for being ‘so brave’ about her eye operation, despite being bullied for it at school by other pupils.

Three days before her passing on November 3, Alek had lost consciousness and was just ‘breathing and coughing’, according to her mother.

She continued: ‘On the day that she died, we managed to do some handprints of paint on a canvas with her sisters. And she had a big smile on her face. And then about ten minutes later, she passed away.’

The family are now fundraising for funeral costs with donations remaining given to chordoma cancer UK research. You can find their GoFundMe here. 

WHAT IS CHORDOMA? 

 Chordoma is a rare type of cancer in the bones of the skull and spine.

It is part of a family of cancers called sarcoma, which include cancers of the bones, cartilage, muscles and other connective tissue. 

Chordomas are generally slow growing, but are relentless and tend to recur after treatment.

Because of their proximity to critical structures such as the spinal cord, brainstem, nerves and arteries, they are difficult to treat and require highly specialised care.

1 in 125,000 people live with chordoma, and it mostly occurs in older people. There are no approved drugs to treat it.

Source: Chordoma Foundation 

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