University student Ceili Leahy died of leukemia Wednesday.
Leahy, originally from Fredericksburg, Va., was diagnosed with childhood bone cancer in the summer of 2013, shortly before beginning her senior year of high school.
First-year College student Brian Cameron – who attended high school with Leahy – said she fought the disease throughout her senior year of high school and was not able to take a full course load, but she successfully graduated and enrolled at the University.
“Going to college was such a huge dream of hers,” Cameron said.
In the summer of 2014, Leahy successfully entered complete remission, and began her first year at the University in the fall. While on Grounds, Leahy was involved with the Climate Action Society. She was also heavily involved with the rallies around sexual assault rallies in Nov. 2014 and the tuition hike protest the following March.
“She was an activist at heart,” Cameron said. “She never stopped fighting and was involved with so many aspects of her life in her passion for human rights.”
In April 2015, she was diagnosed with leukemia and received extensive treatment from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. throughout the summer of 2015. In September 2015, Leahy stopped treatment and did not return to the University.
“She’d come to the decision to just accept peace with her condition and… that was a really remarkable and brave decision on her part but it was so right for her,” Cameron said.
The same month, Leahy was able to visit the Rocky Mountains in Colorado with her family as her last wish trip through the Fairy Godmother Foundation, Cameron said. Leahy also became a volunteer for the Fairy Godmother Foundation and remained active in the Fredericksburg community.
Although she did not return to the University, she strived to continue her education and enrolled in one class at the University of Mary Washington for the Spring 2016 semester, Cameron said. In December 2015, Leahy decided to receive additional treatment, which she continued throughout the month.
‘“The miracle is not that I've survived this long. The miracle is that I have the energy to spend time with the people I love, the mental clarity to reflect on how far I've come, and the health and support to continue to hope. Without these things, life is just a heartbeat. With them, anything is possible,” Leahy wrote in a Facebook post on Dec. 24, 2015.
Last weekend, her leukemia spread to her spleen, and she later died at Children’s National Medical Center, Cameron said.
Approximately 50 people gathered on the steps of Old Cabell Hall Wednesday night to mourn Leahy’s death through a vigil Cameron organized. The attendees ranged from Leahy’s high school classmates to her friends from the University, including her former hallmates.
“Even when the moment that is one's life ends, the ripples sent forth from that life do not stop being felt for a very long time to come,” Cameron wrote in a Facebook post publicizing the event. “Ceili impacted so many people's lives so vividly. The world is already such a better place for her being here, and it will never stop becoming a better place because of her.”
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