{"id":223748,"date":"2025-06-29T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223748\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T10:26:14","slug":"tragic-update-after-young-girl-7-captured-hearts-across-australia-with-her-brave-cancer-battle-and-the-heartbreaking-four-words-she-told-her-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223748\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic update after young girl, 7, captured hearts across Australia with her brave cancer battle – and the heartbreaking four words she told her parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young girl who captivated the hearts of Australians during her cancer<\/a> battle has died years later after relapsing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Uma Tomarchio was two years old when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in 2020, before it worsened to a more aggressive form of cancer, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When her Italian parents, Giuseppe Tomarchio and Lucia Gardini, were unable to secure Medicare assistance for the then-four-year-old’s treatments, they reached out to the media and public for help, with Aussies donating more than $300,000.<\/p>\n

In September that year, a successful bone marrow transplant meant she was largely cancer-free, until she was diagnosed again with Epstein-Barr Virus \u2013 potentially passed through donor cells \u2013 and then later with Lymphoma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a gut-wrenching stint in intensive care and an induced coma, Uma began to regain her strength by February 2023 as a five-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in June this year,\u00a0family friend Megan Mahon announced the young girl had died at seven-years-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had relapsed with therapy-related Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in May, and while undergoing chemotherapy, Uma developed a fast-moving lung infection which her immune system was too weak to fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Mahon said the fundraising and tireless work of her doctors had given Uma two fun-filled years of life before she relapsed with cancer for the fourth time.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The ‘bright-eyed, pony-loving’ daughter of two young parents has passed after a five-year battle with cancer (above)<\/p>\n

She revealed the heartbreaking message Uma gave her parents in her final days, saying she ‘wanted to be free’.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Two years ago, thousands of you came together in a remarkable show of kindness to save a little girl you’d never met,’ Ms Mahon wrote on GoFundMe<\/a> on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Uma Tomarchio, bright-eyed, pony-loving, full of life, was fighting a ferocious battle against cancer. You opened your hearts and gave her the chance to live.’<\/p>\n

‘They were two miraculous, beautiful, hard-won years. They were her soul’s time to play, to love, to teach, and to shine.’<\/p>\n

When, on May 19, 2025, Uma relapsed for the fourth time, doctors moved quickly, starting treatment and preparing her body for a bone marrow transplant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just three weeks in, Uma developed a rare and aggressive lung infection that her immune system \u2013 weakened by years of therapies \u2013 could not overcome.<\/p>\n

Ms Mahon wrote on the fundraiser she would like to help the family prepare for Uma’s farewell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘While nothing can ease the grief of losing a child, we want to give Uma the beautiful, unforgettable farewell she deserves, and ease the burden on her family, who have endured five years of unimaginable hardship,’ she wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Uma <\/p>\n

Uma Tomarchio (above), 7, told her parents, (father, Giuseppe right) she ‘wanted to be free’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Australians <\/p>\n

Australians previously donated hundreds of thousands to help Uma’s parents (pictured as a family) pay her medical expenses<\/p>\n

She is raising funds to cover Uma’s outstanding medical costs and a memorial service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Mahon raised the initial $300,000 sum for a life-saving bone marrow transplant for Uma.<\/p>\n

After successfully receiving the transplant, Uma was declared ‘cancer-free’ in late October 2022.<\/p>\n

Until in December, the family learned just before Christmas their little girl had Lymphoma.<\/p>\n

Uma had ‘become unwell at the beginning of December’ after receiving the bone marrow transplant just over a month earlier.<\/p>\n

‘She was admitted to hospital with a fever,’ Ms Mahon said.<\/p>\n

‘Within days she had deteriorated and was sent to ICU with huge amounts of fluid and swollen lymph nodes in her neck.’<\/p>\n

Uma was put on dialysis as the fluid and toxins were drained from her body, according to Ms Mahon.<\/p>\n

\"Family <\/p>\n

Family friend Megan Mahon said her successful treatments gave her two years of a normal life before she relapsed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia<\/p>\n

\"Uma's <\/p>\n

Uma’s parents (above) said their daughter always found a way to smile despite her condition<\/p>\n

The family spoke about the ordeal with Carrie Bickmore on Channel Ten’s The Project in August 2022.<\/p>\n

‘She is a very sweet, very happy little girl she always smiles, even in the hospital when she is very sick, she always finds a way to smile,’ Ms Gardini told Bickmore.<\/p>\n

‘One night she was very sick, vomiting and with a temperature and she just looked at me and said ”I’m not flying to the sky mum don’t worry, I’m staying with you’,’ she said<\/p>\n

‘Even then, in that moment, she was trying to make me feel better.’<\/p>\n

The Project host, overcome with emotion, struggled to respond – managing a ‘wow’ as she choked back tears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young girl who captivated the hearts of Australians during her cancer battle has died years later after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[186,92,105,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-223748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114766177347172148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}