20 December 2011

Former Venezuelan beauty queen dead at 28


Eva Ekvall, former Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe third runner-up, finally succumbed to her almost two year-long battle with breast cancer.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on Dec. 20 that the Venezuelan beauty queen passed away in a hospital in Houston, Texas last Saturday. She had a two-year old daughter with husband, radio producer John Fabio Bermudez.
Citing a statement by Ekvall’s family, AP said that “her remains were being cremated in Houston on Monday and that a service is to be held in Venezuela once her remains are returned to the country.”
On Sunday, Bermudez posted a photo of his and Ekvall’s hands clasped together and resting on a bed with the message, “Siempre juntos...te amo esposa” (“Always together ... I love you wife,” as translated by AP).
Other Twitter users, including reigning Miss Universe Leila Lopes and American singer and cancer survivor Laura Roppe, have already expressed their condolences.
“Rest in peace Eva Ekvall :( #Venezuela,” Lopes posted on Tuesday morning.
For her part, Roppe tweeted, also on Tuesday, “RIP my sister Eva Ekvall. And love to all my bros and sisters in cancer community-- patients, survivors, caregivers, medical, friends. Love!”
After winning the Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe third runner-up titles in 2000 and 2001, respectively, Ekvall “went on to work as a model, actress and television news anchor.”
Ekvall was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2010. Her battle with the deadly disease, closely monitored by the Venezuelans and the rest of the world, was chronicled in her memoir, “Fuera de Foco” (“Out of Focus”). The cover showed her with close-cropped hair.
“I needed to send the message of the need for cancer prevention.
“I hate to see photos in which I come out ugly. But you know what? Nobody ever said cancer is pretty or that I should look like Miss Venezuela when I have cancer,” AP quoted the beauty queen as saying in an interview with newspaper El Nacional published last year.
By JULIEN MERCED C. MATABUENA
mb.com.ph

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