Stephan loses cancer battle days after proposing to girlfriend

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Less than two weeks ago we shared Stephan Persad’s brave battle against cancer, Sadly, the 29-year-old has passed away.

Denyse Persad confirmed her son died yesterday morning after ailing with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia for several months.

A team visited the family after getting wind of their attempts to raise nearly TT$2 million for treatment abroad.

During the interview, Stephan opened up about how the cancer affected his life.

The leukaemia starts in the bone marrow, but most often quickly moves into the blood and also spreads to other parts of the body including the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and testicles.

Stephan had said that despite the diagnosis, he was determined to rise up against it.

Stephan’s proposal to his girlfriend, Crystal Kowlessar and pledge to love and support her in spite of his illness, left viewers inspired and many had since been rooting for his recovery.

Some also made financial pledges to the family.

When a team from Guardian Media visited the family at their La Romaine home, the first interactions with his mother underscored her unconditional and unwavering love.

As she caressed her 29-year-old son’s head while he laid beneath a blanket during the midday heat, she looked at him, fought back the tears and pledged, “I would do anything on the face of this earth to get you that treatment because you have to get well, you have to be walking on this earth with me and your sister and your fiancé and you have to stay with me.”

Earlier this year shockwaves rippled through the Persad family when Stephan visited a dental clinic after complaining about a toothache. A series of tests were conducted and a nightmarish revelation had been made, the once active, vibrant and fun-loving young man had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.

Since the bleak news, Stephan had been in and out of the hospital, flown to Cuba for treatment before the country’s border closure and undergone bouts of chemotherapy, through it all, however, a smile never seems to leave his face.

“After receiving the bad news on Wednesday, with doctors saying I have a few weeks to live, I said making plans now doesn’t make any sense, so last Sunday I got my girlfriend a ring with the help of my mum and I knelt down in the kitchen and proposed to her,” he said.

Stephan had been in a relationship with his girlfriend for the last three years and he said she had been with him through thick and thin and never thought twice about leaving when the going became tough for him.