Caitlin Leggett was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia for the second time in May 2026
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/caitlin-leggett-061026-5-e9ad16d429bc45c58b0d8c0bfb040afe.jpg "Two individuals in a hospital room one sitting on a bed eating a meal while the other is seated nearby eating a slice of watermelon")
Credit: GoFundMe
NEED TO KNOW
- Caitlin Leggett from Wales died a month after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia for the second time
- Caitlin, 24, went into remission twice after her first leukemia diagnosis and a bone marrow transplant in 2025
- Her twin sister, Grace, was ineligible to donate stem cells due to their near-identical DNA discovered during Caitlin’s treatment
A 24-year-old with terminal cancer has died one month after being told she had "six months to live."
Caitlin Leggett's acute myeloid leukemia (AML) returned in May 2026, a year after her initial diagnosis of the acute form of blood cancer. Her twin sister, Grace, shared on GoFundMe that she needed a bone marrow transplant “for her best chance of survival.”
Caitlin, 24, went into remission twice after chemotherapy and a transplant after her first cancer diagnosis in April 2025. Her family continued to raise money for a second transplant overseas when her cancer subsequently returned.
“Without urgent overseas medical treatments, it will be her last [year],” Grace, 24, wrote on GoFundMe. “Caitlin is choosing to fight this diagnosis and seek life-saving treatment overseas … [her] only chance of a cure is to raise funds to support overseas medical treatment.”
Credit: GoFundMe
In a tragic update on June 16, Grace shared that Caitlin died the previous day, after suffering a “brain bleed” and other health complications.
“We regret to inform you that in the last few days, Caitlin experienced a sudden and serious brain bleed, followed by a series of strokes which led to a rapid decline in her health,” she wrote on the fundraising platform. “Surrounded by the love and care of her family, Caitlin passed away peacefully…We appreciate your love and support during this difficult time."
Caitlin previously called her terminal diagnosis "unthinkable," as reported by the BBC. "[Grace and I] have gone through life together and I don't want our story to end here," she added.
Credit: GoFundMe
“We're only 24 — nobody expects this to happen … Being twins as well, you're not supposed to have one twin not be there," Grace added.
The twin sisters found out they were identical after Caitlin's diagnosis, as doctors discovered their markers were the same while assessing Grace as a potential stem cell donor, the BBC reported. Grace was no longer eligible to donate her stem cells to Caitlin due to their near-identical DNA.
Credit: GoFundMe
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Caitlin posted her final video update on TikTok on June 8, while lying in a hospital bed, after suffering “complications” during her cancer treatment.
“It's called Differentiation Syndrome,” she said. “[This] is where the immature blast cells — which are the leukemia cells — they've been changed into mature cells, which is what we want; however, once they change from immature to mature blasts they release toxins into my bloodstream.
“This causes … bruising [all over my body]…So at the moment I'm currently having about two platelet transfusions a day,” she shared.
