NOBLE
PRINCE An unnamed 51-year-old sister of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas
has died.
Prior
to being told she had an inoperable brain tumor, Pandora Cooper-Key had been
fighting cancer for 24 years.
Esmond
Cooper-Key was a nobleman and Lady Mary Gaye Curzon was their daughter.
She
had ten siblings and was half-sister to Anna Bonas, an actress and model.
For
the first time, Princess Eugenie, Sarah Ferguson’s daughter, introduced
Cressida and Prince Harry in May 2012.
Harry
was famously seen naked in Las Vegas, which caused some problems between them,
but they dated until April 2014.
Following
that, Cressida and his other ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy attended Harry and
Meghan Markle’s wedding in May 2018.
According
to Cooper-Key, a ceramicist who used to work as an accessories designer for
Vivienne Westwood, her family had planned her funeral “thousands of times.”
Later
that year, the mother of two was told she had a tumor on the left side of her
brain that could not be removed.
Through
immunotherapy, she was hoping to get better.
Pandora,
from west London, was 26 years old when she was first told she had Paget’s
Disease, a rare kidney cancer.
Overcoming
the illness, she had her first child about 10 years later.
Shockingly,
doctors told her just weeks after giving birth that they had found a sarcoma in
her left eye.
Although
only a few thousand are diagnosed in the UK each year, sarcomas are very rare
and aggressive tumors.
When
her tear duct was removed, Cooper-Key was told she had only 10 months to live,
but she fought for years.
Prior
to finding another one behind her nose, one was found in her cheek and
successfully removed.
She
also had intense seizures that would sometimes knock her out for days.
Although
Cooper-Key had eight surgeries to remove tumors and later cosmetic work, she
was left with no muscles in half of her face and needed Botox to make the other
half paralyzed.
Speaking
to The Times in 2021, she joked, “I’m the only girl in town who gets it free.”
Next,
near the end of last year, she got a brain tumor that doctors said could not be
removed.
While
talking to Femail a few months ago, she said, “To operate, they’d have to go
through blood vessels, which is not good.”
“So
they categorically said in the first meeting, ‘I’m really sorry, but we
can’t’.”
Cooper-Key
was described as: “Beloved daughter of the late Edmond Cooper-Key, and Lady
Mary Gaye Curzon, adored mother of Bow and Nestor, so much-loved sister of her
two brothers and eight sisters and devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews.”
Sarcoma
UK’s Director of Communications, Kerry Reeves-Kneip, praised Cooper-Key’s work
to raise awareness about the condition.
“Sharing
her story so openly helped bring important attention to sarcoma and the
problems patients face,” she said.
Pandora’s
impact on many people’s lives went beyond her efforts to raise money; her
kindness and strength remain a lasting legacy.
As
a representative of Sarcoma UK, I want to send our deepest condolences to
Pandora’s family, which includes her mother, Lady Mary, her sister, Cressida
Bonas, her two sons, and everyone who loved her.
Pandora
made a huge difference for our organization and for other people with sarcoma.
“We
will honor her by continuing our mission with renewed vigor at Sarcoma UK.”
“Pandora’s
kindness, courage, and indomitable spirit will forever remain in our hearts.”
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