Harrogate auction to feature stunning photos by teenager Liz Hatton who died of ultra rare cancer
An auction is to be held of stunning photographs taken by a late Harrogate teenager whose last item on a bucket list was to raise enough funds to set up a new charity to research the cancer that claimed her life.
Seventeen-year-old Harrogate Grammar School student Liz Hatton’s final months after being diagnosed with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour - a rare and aggressive sarcoma that affects just 12 people in the UK per year – saw her launch a photography bucket list of the pictures she would like to take.
After working with some of the world’s greatest photographers on some of the world’s greatest photographic jobs, her final wish was to set up a charity to research this ultra rare type of cancer which has a five-year survival rate of just 15%.
Now, less than two months after this talented and inspirational young woman passed, that charity appeal has now raised £70,000.
The latest initiative announced by her mother Vicky Robayna is to offer 12 of Liz’s photographs for auction in Harrogate next month. - including one of comedian Michael McIntyre.
Mrs Robayna said: "Taking photographs changed Liz's life and made the last 10 months of her life, and in particular the last two, the best of her life.
"She was so poorly, but she got up every morning with a smile on her face, looking forward to what she was going to do that day.
"If she wasn't in hospital, she was out taking photographs.
"She never said 'why me', she said 'let's make the most of every single second' and that is absolutely what she did."
Liz Hatton's 12 images are among 250 lots at the auction due to take place at Morphets of Harrogate on February 1, with people also able to bid online ahead of the event.
The target on JustGiving for the appeal devoted to research into this ultra rare form of cancer is £100,000.
At the moment Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour has no dedicated organisation fighting for funding and no recognised treatment protocol.
To donate, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/vicky-robayna
Auction information at: https://morphets.co.uk/