A young medical student has died from a rare form of cancer – caused by chemotherapy she received after being told she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Stari Gunarathne responded well to a six-month course of treatment after her initial diagnosis in 2010 and made a good recovery. But a year ago she was given the devastating news that she had acute myeloid leukaemia – which was triggered by the drugs she had been given as she battled lymphoma.
Doctors immediately put her on an intensive course of chemotherapy and she underwent a bone marrow transplant, which was initially deemed a success.
While in hospital, the brave 26-year-old began writing an online blog to share her experiences, often drawing on her Christian faith.
Last night, her father, Gunti, described his daughter as “remarkable” and said she would always put others before herself.
Stari was readmitted to hospital in October with tonsillitis, but it was there that doctors discovered the cancer was back, and gave her three months to live. Mr Gunarathne, a reader in electronics and instrumentation at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said last night: “She knew she was going to die.
“With her medical knowledge, she knew exactly that was happening, but even when she was unwell she was very positive about everything.
“Since her diagnosis in January last year, she blogged about everything. She showed the human side of her feelings, as well as the spiritual. She exposed everything and was an inspiration.”
Stari, from Portlethen in Aberdeenshire, attended Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, where she became a black belt in karate and an instructor, and hoped to become a doctor.
However, after missing out on the necessary grades, she went to St Andrews University to study psychology and biology.
Determined to become a doctor, she got as much work experience as she could and reapplied, landing a place at Leeds University, and left St Andrews after her second year.
Once in Leeds, she became heavily involved with the South Parade Baptist Church and was baptised in 2008.
Mr Gunarathne, who is married to Kanthi and also has a son, Tharaka, said his daughter had helped a great number of people at the church and they rallied around when she came ill.
They took it in turns to look after Stari during her treatment last year, with one couple even transforming a section of their home into her own special wing.
Mr Gunarathne, of Dunvegan Crescent, Portlethen, said: “A lot of people at the funeral had only met Stari once, or had never met her and just read her blog. That’s an amazing thing.”
Stari hoped her blog, called Finding the Anchor in the Storm, would become her lasting legacy, but she died on December 18 at St James Hospital in Leeds before she could fulfil her wish of turning it into a book. Her father is now hoping to realise that ambition on her behalf and is keen to hear from anyone who could help.
To view Stari’s blog, visit http://iwontbewanting. blogspot.co.uk