Tributes on the death of teen who lost his cancer battle

Louise Walsh

Widespread tributes and sorrow have been expressed following the death of a Meath teenager who had bravely battled cancer for four years.

Slav Vavro (17) from Bettyston sadly lost his long fight with a rare form of cancer on Sunday.

In breaking the news on the Help for Slav social media pages, his dad Vlad posted a picture of Slav's hand holding a beloved Lego figure and said: "Yesterday 21st August, our beloved Slav passed away.

"He fought hard but it was too much for his body tortured for so long. Thank you for all the help, will post about the services later."

Slav's mum Nadia and his family explored all options for treatment after he was diagnosed with the very rare type of stage four Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in 2018.

The cancer lay undetected in the arch of his foot until it spread into his spine and bone marrow. After gruelling chemotherapy, the family was told that any further treatment would be palliative and not curative.

However Nadia refused to give up and after much research, fundraised to bring Slav for various treatments abroad, including the US and Vienna as well as buying him an oxygen tank.

However, Slav suffered a relapse in 2020 and in recent months got the devastating news that the cancer had once again spread, leading Nadia to again search frantically for another solution in the form of umbilical cord cytokine induced killer (NK) cells.

Throughout all his trials, Slav loved to build Lego and received many gifts of sets from friends across the country.

Slav is survived by his parents Nadia and Vlad, brother Vlad and sister Michaela, relatives and many friends.

Tributes have been paid on social media to a brave young man who fought his battle with dignity.

One person wrote: "Crushing news. Broken hearted for you guys. Mountains were moved to try and keep Slav well". Another wrote: "A brave and inspirational young lad."

"He fought til the end and he was so very brave. Deepest sympathy to you all. Rest in peace Slav. You were a true warrior," said another.