Six months. That was the prognosis Caitlin Leggett was given in May 2026, when her leukaemia came back.
She was 24. The cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia, had been diagnosed in April 2025. Chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in December 2025 had brought complete remission, but doctors found it had returned, and told her the treatments open to her in the UK were unlikely to cure it.
So the Leggetts looked overseas, most likely to the US, where treatment and associated costs could reach £500,000. They launched a GoFundMe page on June 2. By June 10 it had raised £100,000.
Three days later, on June 13, Caitlin had a sudden, serious brain bleed and a series of strokes. Her health fell away quickly. She died at 2.42am on June 15.
The last hours
Her twin sister Grace, her brother Ethan, 27, her sister Neve, 19, and her parents Jennifer, 54, and Ian, 57, were with her. “We all got the chance to speak to her,” Grace said. “Neve put her favourite pillow spray on, we massaged her hands with lotion, and the nurses gave us a memory box with special paper and a charcoal wipe, so we could take her footprints and hand prints.”
Grace also played piano for Caitlin, and music by her favourite pianist, Patrik Pietschmann, was playing on a speaker when she died.
Grace said she was relieved that it came fast. Caitlin had told her she was scared of dying, but Grace believed what frightened her was a slow death with a known deadline. “We’re only 24 – nobody expects this to happen… Being twins as well, you’re not supposed to have one twin not be there,” she said.
Twins who turned out to be identical
The Welsh sisters had made the news earlier this year. When Caitlin was diagnosed and needed a stem cell transplant, tests showed that the twins, who had always thought they were fraternal, were identical.
Grace had stood by her sister throughout. She gave up her job as a complex care personal assistant in Bristol and moved back to Cardiff, where the family grew up, to be nearer to them. The twins had shared a student house while at the University of Bristol.
The morning before Caitlin went into hospital for the last time, she, Grace and Neve tried on bridesmaids’ dresses. Their father and his partner, Sarah, are planning a wedding, and Caitlin was to be maid of honour. Neve said her sister told people she had never been happier than in her final two weeks.
Ian said that after the relapse Caitlin started making memory boxes for other people. “She never gave up, even after the seizures on Saturday night.”
The fund
The family paused the page on June 27 with £127,722 raised. Grace said the money will largely go to charity. Teenage Cancer Trust will receive a donation to fund a Lead Nurse for a year across Cardiff and South Wales, and Leukaemia UK will get a research grant. A small amount will pay for tree planting, memorial plaques, school awards and a piano in the hospital.
