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British professional boxer Georgia O'Connor has died after being diagnosed with cancer following weeks of debilitating pain and suffering a miscarriage. She was 25.
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The boxing community is mourning a loss.
British professional boxer Georgia O'Connor has died after a monthslong battle with cancer, boxing promotional company Boxxer shared on May 22. She was 25.
“We are heartbroken by the passing of Georgia O’Connor," the promoter said in a statement obtained by The Guardian. "A true warrior inside and outside the ring, the boxing community has lost a talented, courageous and determined young woman far too soon."
The statement continued, "Georgia was loved, respected and admired by her friends here at Boxxer. Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this difficult time.”
The same day, Boxxer founder and CEO Ben Shalom wrote, “My heart goes out to Georgia’s parents and partner, who I know did everything they could tirelessly and are going through so much right now."
He continued of the champion, “Georgia was an inspirational person and one I’ll never forget. So sorry for her family and all her friends. Truly heartbreaking.”
O’Connor—who began her winning career at a young age with a gold medal at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, a silver at the 2017 Youth World Championships and a bronze at the 2018 Youth World Championships—suffered from ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis—a chronic inflammatory bowel disease and a chronic liver disease—for years before sharing her cancer diagnosis in January.
At the time, she said that she knew "something was seriously wrong" despite several doctors dismissing her.
“For 17 weeks since the start of October, I’ve been in constant pain,” O’Connor wrote on Instagram. “I said from the start I felt it was cancer. I KNEW the risks. I have colitis and PSC, two diseases that dramatically increase the chances of getting it. I KNOW how high my risk is and they do too. They always did.”
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Due to her delayed diagnosis, she said her cancer had spread and she also had blood clots in her lungs.
"Not one doctor took me seriously," she continued. "Not one doctor did the scans or blood tests I begged for whilst crying on the floor in agony. Instead, they dismissed me. They gaslit me, told me it was nothing, made me feel like I was overreacting. They refused to scan me. They refused to investigate. They REFUSED to listen."
After publicly sharing her cancer battle, O’Connor explained that she had suffered a miscarriage just before her diagnosis. However, she still chose to stay positive.
"I’ve been pregnant with a beautiful baby, suffered a miscarriage, then got diagnosed with ‘incurable’ cancer," she wrote on Instagram February 18 in honor of her 25th birthday. "But I still feel on top of the world!"
One such highlight was her wedding less than two weeks before her passing. O'Connor shared that she had married her longtime boyfriend Adriano Cardinali on May 9, posting photos of the nuptials on Instagram.
As she put it in the caption, "I married the love of my life."
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