06 December 2023 , 16:22
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A 21-year-old university student who was told she had cancer just months after her mum had a similar devastating diagnosis, has died.
Erin Chappell's family is now thanking the kindness of strangers who are helping to give her the send off she deserved, after they feared she may end up with a pauper's funeral as they came to terms with their devastating loss. Mum Nicky Hutchinson, who is in remission from cancer but still undergoing treatment herself, said she was embarrassed that she needed to ask for help.
Erin was diagnosed with Uterine Sarcoma - a cancer of the muscle and supporting tissues in the uterus - in 2020 just a few days before her 18th birthday and a few months after mum Nicky was told she had stage four Hodgkins Lymphoma. Both Nicky, and Erin's dad Ian, were self employed, so the family's double cancer blow left them struggling without sick pay to keep themselves afloat financially.
Despite her illness, Erin enrolled at De Montfort University in Leicester where she was studying Criminology and Psychology, in the hopes of one day being able to help children with their mental health. Family friend Hannah Awesome says that Erin had gone back up to Leicester in September this year as she was determined to "live a normal life". However, she says it wasn't long until her condition deteriorated.
Erin Chappell died after a three year battle with cancer (Devon Live)Hannah told Devon Live: "Erin wanted to help children that were suffering from anxiety as she struggled to go to school. She wanted to make them realise that doing it their way was good enough and to believe in themselves. She didn't want to sit around waiting to die so she returned to university in September this year.
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"When she went back, she wanted to live a normal life for a while but she only successfully managed a few days before she was in quite a bit of pain. She came back to see her doctor in Devon and the went back up to Leicester but unfortunately, a few days later she felt really really horrific and ended up in hospital in Leicester. It was a very intense few weeks and she was in absolute agony and they called Erin's parents to come up."
To be closer to family and friends, Erin's parents asked if she could be transferred to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, where she was for a short time, but she deteriorated, and she was taken to spend her final days at home.
Her mum said she is "embarrassed" that she needs help to fund her daughter's funeral (Devon Live)After Erin died last week and her family have been trying to organise a funeral but Hannah says this has been difficult due to the crippling costs of caring for her at home and a basic funeral costing around £5,000. Hannah says Nicky has even been looking into a 'Pauper's funeral', which are considered a public health funeral with no flowers, viewings, obituaries or transport for family members, something she described as an '"injustice" and has set up a fundraiser on the family's behalf.
She said Nicky feels "embarrassed" having to accept this help. Hannah said: "It's really eye-opening because the costs of keeping oxygen running 24/7 is humongous and the family had no income coming in for months. It's been a period of real intense financial hardship.
"They've been left with a huge electricity bill for the oxygen. It's been a massive shock that for a really basic funeral, it's like £5,000 so then Nicky was having to consider what's known as Pauper's funeral. She put a post on Facebook saying 'please tell me a Pauper's funeral isn't as clinical as it sounds'.
"It feels like such an injustice that she's grieving her daughter and hasn't got enough money for a proper goodbye. That was the motivation for setting up the fundraiser. She's put on Facebook that she's really embarrassed that she has to ask for this but she just wants to do her daughter justice."
Erin's mum has been out of work caring for her while she was also unwell (Devon Live)The university student has been described as a "selfless" person with many people not realising how unwell she was because she put so much effort into helping others, including her mum when she was going through treatment.
She said: "When Nicky got diagnosed with cancer, she was their for her mum every step of the way. Then she got diagnosed herself while her mum was still having treatment and then the pandemic hit and it was a horrific time. This last year, in particular, she got so so unwell but despite that, she still put everyone else before herself.
"People are saying that sometimes you wouldn't even realise how much pain she was in because she was so worried about other people. She was selfless, exactly the same as Nicky."
The fundraiser for Erin's funeral, which has been booked for Friday, December 22, can be found here.
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