Caitlin Leggett died at 2.42am on Monday, June 15, with her twin Grace, her brother Ethan, 27, her sister Neve, 19, and her parents Jennifer, 54, and Ian, 57, around her. She was 24.
Caitlin had acute myeloid leukaemia. Less than two weeks earlier she had started raising money for treatment abroad.
“It was really hard,” Grace told PA Real Life. “We all got the chance to speak to her. 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 played piano for her sister. Caitlin died while music by her favourite pianist, Patrik Pietschmann, played on a speaker.
Relapse and a fast decline
The Welsh twins made headlines in early 2026. Caitlin’s diagnosis in April 2025 and her urgent need for a stem cell transplant led to a discovery: the sisters had always believed they were fraternal twins, and they were identical.
Months of chemotherapy and a transplant in December 2025 put Caitlin into complete remission. In May 2026, doctors found the cancer had come back. UK treatment options were unlikely to cure her, she was told, and on her current plan she had six months to live.
The family looked abroad, most likely to the US, where treatment and related costs could reach £500,000. A GoFundMe page went up on June 2. By June 10 it had passed £100,000.
On Saturday, June 13, Caitlin suffered a sudden, serious brain bleed, followed by a series of strokes. She declined fast.
“I’m just really glad she wasn’t aware of what happened to her,” Grace said. Caitlin had told her she was scared of dying, Grace said, but she thought her sister feared a slow death, knowing she might have only six months. “So I’m just really grateful that it was really quick, and she didn’t know.”
“We’re only 24 – nobody expects this to happen… Being twins as well, you’re not supposed to have one twin not be there.”
Remembered for her humour
The twins grew up in Cardiff and later shared a student house while studying at the University of Bristol. When Caitlin fell ill, Grace quit her job as a complex care personal assistant in Bristol and moved back to Cardiff to be near the family.
On the morning before Caitlin went into hospital for the last time, she, Grace and Neve tried on bridesmaids’ dresses. Their dad and his partner, Sarah, are planning a wedding, and Caitlin was to be Sarah’s maid of honour. “She mentioned to a couple of people that she was the happiest that she’d ever been in her last two weeks,” Neve said.
Ethan, who lives in Australia with his partner, remembers the laughing. “It’s sibling banter that just bounces off each other – we’re just one upping each other, like tennis,” he said.
Jennifer called her daughter “warm, bubbly, humble and loving.” Ian described a young woman who was “bright as a button and sharp as a pin,” and who always had a comeback. Messy, too. “Caitlin would always have a comeback, such as that being messy was a sign of intelligence!”
Even after her diagnosis, Ian said, Caitlin worried most about doing things for other people. After the last relapse she began making memory boxes for others. “She fought against the word ‘terminal’, keeping hope until the end.”
Where the money is going
The family paused the GoFundMe on June 27. The total stood at £127,722, and Grace said most of it will go to charity. One donation to Teenage Cancer Trust will pay for a Lead Nurse for a year, overseeing the service across Cardiff and South Wales. A second, to Leukaemia UK, will fund a research grant. A small portion will go toward tree planting, memorial plaques, school awards and a dedicated piano at the hospital.
