Shining Charelle put up the fight of her life
As a person, friend, daughter and wife, Charelle Cassie McAllister has been described as one of the most loving, vibrant and positive souls to have walked the Earth. After putting up an immense fight, she recently lost the battle against cancer.
Charelle Cassie McAllister, born in Sabie on December 14, 1984, lost her courageous fight with cancer on Monday.
During her 36 years, she was a make-up artist, a model for Boss Models, the mastermind behind Charelle McAllister Make-up Artistry and also the head of sales and marketing for a relatively new venture, Chill In Clothing.
ALSO READ: Riverside businesses join hands to do good
Charelle’s love of make-up and all things arty started from a very young age. She would watch her mother applying make-up as a little girl and it came as no surprise when she later took on studies in that very direction.
Years and years of hard work and dedication, and her undying passion for her work, brought her to where she had been. Her friends and colleagues said anyone who had ever worked with her would have felt her infectious passion for her art.
She was the kind of person that would give you the shoes off her feet, and proceed to tell you how great you looked in them – her heart was pure gold. She loved fully, cared deeply and lived honestly.
Her vibrancy shone through in any photo you saw of her, even during her fight with cancer.
Charelle’s journey with cancer could be followed on a Facebook page a friend had started, to help gather funds to cover the astronomical medical cost that come with treating cancer.
On the page, Charelle’s Journey with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the fight she put up was shared, with updates on her progress and treatments.
The journey started when Charelle’s health took a dive during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pre-Covid, Charelle was living life simplistically, surrounded by her comforts – friends, her pets, her music, her make-up and, of course, her dear wife, Candi McAllister.
Her health had been troubling her, but being the positive and glass-half-full kind of girl she was, she plodded along happily.
With her health issues not giving way, she was forced to try and get to the bottom of things. This meant paying for specialists every few months, only to be back at square one with no answers.
During the beginning of April last year, Charelle’s health took a serious turn for the worse and she ended up being rushed back into hospital for further tests.
A throat biopsy eventually led them to the cause. They had the answer and it was not one they could have been prepared for.
Charelle was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. She put up an immense fight and stayed unbelievably strong through four rounds of chemotherapy, but sadly lost the battle in the end.
ALSO SEE: WATCH: Courageous Citybug driver brings passengers home to safety
Her memorial will be held at the Kaapsehoop Cemetery on July 17 at 12:00. The service will be broadcast on Zoom.
Loved ones can keep an eye on her Facebook group for the link that will be shared on the day.
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cells, called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed-Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient’s lymph nodes. Symptoms may include fever, night sweats and weight loss.
