Li-Fraumeni Syndrome
Sad fate: The Ewald family loses father, son and now their daughter (†9) to cancer
She had already lost her husband and son to LFS – now also her older daughter Neele
© Stefanie Ewald / Instagram
First the family man and his ten-year-old son died of cancer. Now the nine-year-old daughter Neele also lost the fight against the disease. It is no coincidence that there is a high incidence of cancer in the family.
“Yesterday Neele also went to her brother and dad across the rainbow bridge,” friends of the Ewald family said on Thursday on their donation page. The nine-year-old’s mother confirmed the sad news on Instagram: “Now you’re back with your dad and brother – we’ll miss you forever.”
The Ewald family from Hamberge in Schleswig-Holstein has had to cope with many strokes of fate in recent years. The reason for this is the Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS). A malignant muscle tumor was first removed from the thigh of daughter Neele in 2014 – when she was only two years old. Three years later, father Sebastian fell ill with lung cancer and son Jonas with a brain tumor.
Mother Stefanie is also diagnosed with cancer
The Ewald family suffered the loss shortly after Christmas 2019: ten-year-old Jonas died as a result of his cancer. A few months later, the 37-year-old father also lost the battle with cancer.
Around the same time, mother Stefanie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Aggressive chemotherapy and surgery followed. Only the three-year-old daughter Lenja does not seem to have inherited the genetic defect.
Neele falls ill with cancer again
In the summer of 2020, the doctors diagnosed Neele with a second tumor, this time in her brain. In addition, a malignant bone cancer raged in her and caused her a lot. She suffered from recurring severe pain attacks. Her mother Stefanie compared her daughter’s pain level to a “roller coaster with unfortunately unexpected loopings in every direction”.
A few days before her death, her family was able to fulfill a long-cherished wish – one last ride on a pony. According to the regional newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten, Neele died on July 6 at the University Hospital in Lübeck, where she had been admitted a few hours earlier with breathing problems.
Almost all LFS patients develop cancer
Li-Fraumeni syndrome is an inherited genetic defect that drastically increases the risk of developing cancer. The Dresden University Hospital calls it “one of the most aggressive cancer predisposition syndromes currently known”. Almost all affected individuals will have at least one cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
In most cases, patients with LFS develop soft tissue sarcoma, osteosarcoma, breast cancer, brain tumors and adrenocortical carcinoma.
Sources: RTL, Lübeck news, Dresden University Hospital, Fundraiser website