A male model has died aged 20 after getting diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer.
Bernardo Marziani passed away on Friday (14 Jun) after a two-year battle with Ewing sarcoma.
Ewing sarcoma most commonly affects people between the ages of 10 to 20 years old.
It usually develops in the pelvic bone, thigh bone and shin bone, but the condition can also develop in the soft tissues surrounding the bone or joint.
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Marziani shared his cancer journey with his thousands of social media followers.
“This tumour, Ewing sarcoma, was diagnosed two years ago, in 2022, located in my left leg, with excruciating pain that kept getting worse until my leg ‘died’ and that’s when they found it,” he said in a video.
“I went through all the chemo in the protocol, preparing for surgery, but just before the operation, I developed metastases, so they had to change the treatment.
“It’s like the disease became chronic and just needed to be kept under control.”
Marziani was the son of journalist and writer Elena Martelli and art critic Gianluca Marziani.
He lived between Rome, Italy and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he was studying anthropology.
In his social media videos, Marziani opened up about the symptoms from his cancer treatments.
He also gave advice to other cancer patients, such as wearing a cold cap during chemotherapy to limit hair loss.
His health took a turn for the worse in January, as reported on Need To Know.
He said in a video: “Until January in Amsterdam, everything was fine, except for some leg problems that were resolved with radiotherapy.
“But then a pleural effusion was underestimated, which devastated me.
“It was caused by the progression of the tumour to my lung, due to a failed chemo.
“Until then, I had never shown symptoms and seeing myself sick was tough.
“I was hospitalised for a week because of the effusion, and recently I had two very intense ‘red devil chemos’ but now I’m doing much better compared to two months ago.”
Family and friends said their last goodbyes to the model in Rome’s Santa Maria Addolorata Church on Sunday (16 Jun).
