PENTICTON – A 16-year-old Penticton teenager, who captured the attention and hearts of her community, has passed away after her battle with cancer. Kaylee Kozari-Bowland died at her home early Monday morning surrounded by her closest family and friends.
“Kaylee is now at peace after an arduous journey of doctors, nurses, hospitals, travelling, surgery, and painful treatments, ” writes her father Scott Bowland on a Facebook page. “She experienced many triumphs and tribulations along the way.”
Kaylee was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer attacking her lungs and spine in July 2014. Emergency surgery, chemotherapy and radiation seemed to be working until January when an MRI showed new tumors in her brain and spine.
With no more options left in Canada, the family looked at an experimental treatment in Texas but it came with a hefty pricetag of about $200,000. Numerous community fundraisers, including head-shaving events and a concert, were organized to help the family but in the end, Kaylee, was too ill to undergo the procedure.
Kaylee would have been in Grade 11 this year at Penticton Secondary School.
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