Naperville teen loses cancer battle
Brianna Leigh Sharp didn't let illness stop her creativity.
The 13-year-old Naperville girl continued to doodle, paint and draw - even as she battled a rare form of brain cancer.
"She was an awesome artist," said Matthew Sharp, Brianna's father. "She had notebooks and notebooks filled with doodles and drawings and stuff."
Brianna's artistic ability, beautiful smile and hugs are just some of things friends and family members will miss.
She died on Saturday morning at her home after a nearly yearlong fight against diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an aggressive brainstem tumor.
Brianna is survived by her parents - Robert and Jennifer Siemann of Naperville and Matthew and Maria Sharp of Hanover Park - and six siblings. They are her sister Kaitlyn, 11, half-sister Gianna, 3 and step siblings Eric, 14, Haley, 12, Zachary,14, Madison, 12.
"She was more concerned about everybody else than herself," Matthew Sharp said of Brianna. "Even with the illness, she was more concerned about how we were doing. She was always ready to give a hug."
The seventh-grader at Gregory Middle School in Naperville was diagnosed in October after suffering painful headaches. That month, she traveled to Memphis to begin radiation and chemotherapy treatments at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Around that time, the family started a blog at curebrianna.com to provide regular updates about Brianna's cancer fight and to educate others about the disease.
"This type of cancer is so rare, that Jennifer (Brianna's mother) and I agreed that we would use Brianna's story to try to get the word out," Sharp said.
When Brianna came home from the hospital in December, she was contacted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She told them she wanted a dog.
The foundation granted Brianna's wish by getting her a Shih-poo that she named Gizmo. "That dog served as her little buddy," Sharp said.
In addition to sketching and painting pictures of dogs, fish and other animals, Brianna enjoyed cooking.
"She would drag the Easy-Bake Oven around our house all the time," Sharp said. "She would always make those brownies and cakes."
Despite treatment, the family learned in April that Brianna's tumor was growing. It eventually spread to other parts of her brain and spine.
Still, Brianna remained very strong in her Catholic faith, family members said. She lived by her cross country motto: "Start fast, finish faster. Start strong, finish stronger."
Visitation will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home, 44 S. Mill St., in Naperville.
Services will begin 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home and will proceed to a 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Raphael Church, 1215 Modaff Road, in Naperville. Interment will take place at SS. Peter & Paul Cemetery in Naperville. In lieu of flowers, donations in Brianna's name can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.