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A woman who wrote “f*** cancer ” on her badly bruised face as she battled leukaemia has died aged 28.

Kathryn Cartwright, from Sutton Coldfield was praised for her “sense of humour” after she passed away surrounded by her family in hospital last Saturday.

An update on her website announced her death with a drawing of Kathryn and the words: “In one of the stars I shall be living…”

Kathryn’s last tweet on January 8 said she had been in “agony” all day and questioned: “What is this bug?”

She finally succumbed to an “insurmountable” liver infection after 13 years fighting leukaemia.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Kathryn posted a selfie of her badly bruised face after falling out of a wheelchair in 2014 – on which she had written ”F**k cancer”.

Leukaemia charity Anthony Nolan said in tribute after Kathryn’s death that she was “an incredible woman who worked tirelessly to support people with blood cancer”.

It continued: “Her positivity and sense of humour will be greatly missed but her legacy lives on.”

Kathryn was diagnosed with leukaemia aged 16 in August, 2007 and was given a 20% chance of survival.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

The image of Kathryn taking on the disease by writing “f*** cancer” went viral and she became an inspiration for others.

She had a liver transplant and three bone marrow transplants while becoming an Anthony Nolan ambassador and encouraging people to become stem cell donors like those who gave her a chance at life.

She told Birmingham Live last November: “I would really like to make it to 30.

“All I really want to do now is get to 30 so I can hold a benefit party for myself so that I can hold a comedy gig to raise money for Anthony Nolan. I did it before in February, 2018, as part of ten years since I had been in remission.

“If I don’t I would like my family to (put the gig on) anyway. I am sure (the comedians) would like to do it.”

Kathryn said she thought about death "a lot" and said: "It is sad but I am more concerned for my family. If I am dead I am gone but my family have to live with that.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

"It kills me to know that is going to happen with my family. At some point everyone is going to be sad and that is probably going to go on for the rest of their life.

"I’ve never been scared, just sad because I might not be able to say goodbye to them.

"In reality living a long life is not going to happen."

Kathryn's website announced her death in a short update which read: "As many of you will have realised, Kathryn has been unwell and in hospital for some weeks.

"The infection in her liver returned and this time proved to be insurmountable. Kathryn died peacefully on Saturday 18 January with her family at her side."

Her last post on the site was posted just before Christmas, on December 21.

Kathryn published a picture of her lounge dressed for the festive season but said she would not be updating until she could type "reliably".

She added: "Currently I have side-effects from having one of my drugs messed about with in hospital, so I randomly shake or flail. Normal proceedings shall resume as soon as possible."