6-year-old Avalanna Routh, who was known by millions as Mrs. Bieber lost her long battle with cancer.
The 6-year-old became popular as Mrs. Bieber because she was a fan of the singer. In 2006, at 9-months-old, she was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer called atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT). The little girl’s Twitter account recently posted a note about Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
Last year, as The Times’ Ministry of Gossip reported Wednesday, staff at the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital threw Avalanna a wedding — to Bieber — knowing that she was a huge Bieber fan. There was cake, flowers, a singer. A family friend’s Facebook page, “Get Avalanna to Meet Justin Bieber,” caught the attention of the pop star, who met and became friends with the little girl.
The famous 6-year-old quickly earned the nickname “Mrs. Bieber.”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, Dr. Charles Roberts, a pediatric oncologist at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center, talked about her struggle with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor and the child herself: “She had an incredible effect on those around her.”
Avalanna’s parents, Cameron and Aileen, had become tireless in their efforts to raise awareness of AT/RT — with which she was diagnosed at 9 months — and funds to cure pediatric cancer in general. The disease is described on the Dana-Farber website as “a very rare and fast-growing tumor of the central nervous system.”
“They knew from the beginning that the cure rate for AT/RT was about 15%,” Roberts said.
But, due in part to aggressive treatment, the little girl lived well past the usual prognosis of a year.
Treatments for the 6-year-old stopped about two months ago and on Wednesday staff members at the cancer center were in mourning, as were Bieber and other celebrities who had come to know Avalanna through her parents’ participation in the Stand Up 2 Cancer charity.