Mother Remembers Teenage Photographer Who Died of Cancer

The mother of a teenage photographer, who passed away last month due to cancer, has honored her daughter, stating, “wherever we are, she’ll be with us”. Liz Hatton, a 17-year-old from Harrogate, initiated a photography bucket list appeal in January following her diagnosis with an aggressive desmoplastic small round cell tumour. Her death occurred on 27 November, and she received commendation from the Prince and Princess of Wales, who described her as a “brave and humble young woman”. During an interview with BBC Breakfast, her mother, Vicky Robayna, characterized her as a “joy to be around all the time, and the most incredible big sister any child could ever ask for”. In October, Liz was photographed receiving a hug from Kate at Windsor Castle, having been invited to photograph William at an investiture ceremony. Only weeks prior to her passing, Liz collaborated with Rankin, one of her photography idols, during a photoshoot featuring professional models. Ms Robayna remarked: “She was just so determined and never, ever complained, she never said, ‘Why me? This shouldn’t be happening to me’.” “She just got up every day and took every opportunity that came her way with excitement and glee.” “It didn’t matter how tired she was or how grotty she was feeling, she got out of her bed and made the most of whatever wonderful opportunity came her way.” “It’s unbelievable to us in lots of ways that so many people are interested in our little girl, it was completely alien to her – she could never really understand why people were interested.” Ms Robayna indicated that the family intends to carry on Liz’s objective of increasing awareness regarding her rare condition. She stated: “Raising that awareness and raising funds through the JustGiving campaign is giving us all a focus, to try and raise those funds, because there are no ring-fenced funds for desmoplastic small round cell tumour in the UK, the only funds out there are funds raised by families.” “We had no idea what we were dealing with, there was no way to find centralised information aimed at families and what we hope is to set up a charity where we can provide support to families on diagnosis but where we can also fund research to try and get those better treatments and give more people a chance to live.” Prof Bob Phillips, a paediatric oncologist, informed the BBC that researchers are “constantly looking” for rare cancers like desmoplastic small round cell tumours. He explained: “Each sort of brand of cancer needs a different sort of treatment and some cancers like desmoplastic small round cell tumour don’t really respond that well to chemotherapy.” “If they spread in other places the surgery becomes difficult, and we’re not sure that they respond that brilliantly to radiotherapy either.” “While we’re doing the treatments that we’ve got, we need to maximise the chance that you have of living that life like Liz did.” Mateo, Liz’s brother, offered his own tribute to his sister, remarking that she was “always there for me when I needed her”. In a video message broadcast on Breakfast, the young boy stated: “Not many people get the opportunity to take the photos that she did.” “Barely any people even realised that she had cancer, how amazing they were. They just looked like a famous person’s photography.” “If I could say anything I’d probably say raise awareness about desmoplastic small round cell tumour, because it’s all my sister ever wanted, for other people to survive from it.” “After like four months we got told she was going to die eventually so all she wanted from then was to raise awareness about it.” Ms Robayna mentioned that Christmas this year is an “undecided mission,” as the family had intended to celebrate the season earlier in the autumn. She stated: “Our Christmas was actually supposed to be the morning of the day Liz died.” “Mateo’s one Christmas wish was to have Liz here and we had planned to make that happen but unfortunately it didn’t, so I’m not quite sure what Christmas looks like this year.” “We might go away somewhere, we might stay at home, but wherever we are, she’ll be with us.”