The family of a teenage photographer who inspired the Princess of Wales while facing a rare cancer hope to set up a charity to “give more children a chance to live”, her mother said.
Liz Hatton, who lost her 10-month cancer fight in late November, hit the headlines when she was pictured hugging Kate while at Windsor Castle to take photos of William at an investiture ceremony.
Her family have set up a JustGiving page to raise funds for research for desmoplastic small round cell tumour (DSRCT), a rare and aggressive sarcoma that Liz was diagnosed with in January.
So far, the appeal has raised more than £30,000 towards its £100,000 target.
Liz’s mother Vicky Robayna told BBC Breakfast: “Raising that awareness and trying to raise funds through the JustGiving campaign is kind of giving us all a focus really to try and raise those funds because there are no ringfence funds for desmoplastic small round cell tumour.
What we hope is to set up a charity specifically for desmoplastic small round cell tumour where we can provide that support to families on diagnosis
“In the UK the only funds out there are funds raised by families.
“At the beginning it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, we had no idea what we were dealing with, there was no way to find centralised information aimed at families.
“What we hope is to set up a charity specifically for desmoplastic small round cell tumour where we can provide that support to families on diagnosis, but where we can also fund research to try and get those better treatments and give more children a chance to live.”
Liz died at home on November 27, having fulfilled what her mother described as her “biggest wish”, spending two days with Los Angeles-based portrait photographer David Suh, who flew from the US to work with her.
As part of her bucket list, the Yorkshire teenager went on to photograph comedian Michael McIntyre, circus performers, the Royal Ballet, models from the Storm Model Agency, London Air Ambulances from a helipad, hotel doormen, the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards and joined acclaimed British photographer Rankin to lead a fashion shoot.
William and Kate expressed their sadness following her death, saying it was “an honour to have met such a brave and humble young woman”.
Ms Robayna said the family are facing an uncertain Christmas after her death.
“We were due to bring Christmas forward and our Christmas was supposed to be the morning of the day Liz died,” she said.
“Mateo’s (Liz’s younger brother’s) one Christmas wish was to have Liz here and we had a plan 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.”
A celebration of Liz’s life, which will feature an exhibition of her photos, will be held on Wednesday at a hotel in Harrogate.
