21-year-old queer journalist dies after battle with terminal cancer
A 21-year-old gay man has died after a battle with a rare terminal cancer.
British journalist Dean Eastmond was fighting with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare bone and soft tissue cancer, for the last year.
When @charliehidestv knows you’re pretty much bed bound so comes to chill with you for the day and this OBVIOUSLY ends up happening ❤️ pic.twitter.com/I8II5bFygO
— Dean Eastmond (@deanvictorr) August 28, 2017
He was the editor of the LGBTI magazine HISKIND and before his death, he wrote extensively and candidly about living with cancer as a young gay man.
Recalling the moment he was diagnosed, Eastmond wrote that he thought he had broken a rib at first after a large lump appeared on his chest.
He wrote: “Fickle and naive, being told there and then that this wasn’t a broken rib, but a cyst or a tumour saw a terrified Dean breaking down in the waiting area, unable to decide whether to call his boyfriend or mother first.
“After a needle biopsy, I was diagnosed.”
Eastmond’s journey touched thousands of people in the LGBT community, including Drag Queen Charlie Hides who spent a day with him earlier this week and gave him a make over.
As well as Hides, Eastmond was close with Troye Sivan.
The singer previously reached out and offered financial help with his cancer treatment.
“Troye had offered, there and then, to completely cover the cost of this alternative treatment,” Eastmond wrote on HISKIND. “Saving myself and my family from being financially crippled in the most difficult time of all of our lives.
“Within minutes, he had lived up to his offer and donated thousands in the blink of an eye. (much to my awe, amazement and slight embarrassment) before popping off to sleep,” he added.
Since news of his death broke, hundreds of people have shared posts on Twitter remembering him.
Guardian columnist Owen Jones wrote: “RIP Dean Eastmond, an amazing, courageous, inspirational queer young journalist who has died of cancer. He moved so, so many people.”
Charlie Hides wrote: “RIP @deanvictorr you touched so many lives and taught us how to go out in style! #DeanEastmondSLAYED”
“Devastated. Goodnight, sweet, brave boy. Dean Eastmond, one of the bravest people I ever had the pleasure of coming across,” singer Jamie Lambert added.
