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Cancer Warrior Hana’a Iskandar Loses Long Battle with Cancer

24-year-old Hana’a Iskandar, an inspirational cancer warrior succumbed to her disease after fighting a long battle with cancer, on Thursday morning at King Abdulaziz University Hospital.

Her demise came four months after her brother Hamza Iskandar’s death leaving their family, friends and the Saudi community shattered. The sibling duo was both diagnosed with cancer although the brother who survived his cancer died of bronchitis-related complications. Hana’a Iskandar, however, fought her own battle with sarcoma (a cancerous tumor of connective or other nonepithelial tissue) which had reached its fourth stage since a year ago.

 “We were almost like twins, but born 11 months apart,” said Hana’a Iskandar in a previous interview about her brother. She mentioned that cancer was not her brother’s first fight. Hamza Iskandar who was sick since he was a baby received a prosthetic valve at just six years.

The Saudi community took to Twitter to express their sorrow and condolences once the news of Hana’a Iskandar’s death surfaced, managing to have a trending hashtag on Twitter which received over 85,000 tweets in the first four hours.

Prominent Saudi breast cancer survivor Samia Al-Amoudi tweeted, "Hanaa Iskandar passed away, and Hamza passed before her. But their smiles did not leave. They will remain ingrained in our hearts. God grant them heaven and help their parents."

Apart from tweets mourning the death of the young woman, Twitter also saw a huge interaction between her followers on social media, with many praising her for continuing to work, despite ill health, on the campaign started by her late brother.

Hamza Iskandar, who was also a social activist, launched several social media campaigns to fight cancer, but the most popular one that caught everyone’s attention was “I Fight Cancer with My Smile.”

After his death, Hana’a Iskandar continued his campaigns with an energy that matched her brother’s motivation. She said her efforts to keep his campaign going, was due to the fact that Hamza was a great idol, and courageous.

Fulfilling her brother’s dream of a cancer support center, she initiated a project to help families and patients transition from the initial shock of diagnosis, to acceptance. “It’s everything a hospital doesn’t have. It’s basically the fun part of being a cancer patient,” she said in a previous interview.

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