Battle with cancer ends for Hazleton 6-year-old

Six-year-old Audrianna Bartol's four-year battle with cancer ended Friday.

Audrianna, of Hazleton, had been battling neuroblastoma, a rare form of nerve cancer with no known cure, since the age of 2.

Audrianna's mother, Angela, wrote on a blog tracking her daughter's fight with cancer that her daughter died in her arms at 5:45 p.m. Friday.

Her poor little body couldn't take anymore, Angela wrote. She didn't want to go. Believe me she was fighting so hard to stay, kept saying mom and I love you until she couldn't talk anymore.

Arrangements are being handled by the Joseph B. Conahan Funeral Home Inc. of North Vine Street, Hazleton, and an obituary will be forthcoming Tuesday.

Community members and businesses hosted several fundraisers over the past several years to raise both money for Audrianna's medical bills and blood donations.

Audrianna required regular blood transfusions during her treatment to restore blood cells depleted by chemotherapy treatments. Her rare blood type, A-Negative, sometimes made it difficult to find the blood she needed.

I never imagined that blood transfusions would become part of our family's everyday life, Angela Bartol told The Times Leader during a January blood drive. It is because of the generosity of blood donors that she and many others can fight for their lives.

News of Audrianna's death inspired an outpouring of hundreds of supportive messages on a Facebook page her mother set up for her.

On that page, Angela Bartol described Audrianna as loving her 3-year-old sister, as well as television shows Hannah Montana, iCarly, Princess Stuff, Strawberry Shortcake, The PowerPuff Girls and Anything Girlie.