Friend and fellow cancer fighter posts heartfelt tribute to Hannah Rye

Charlii Croese, 18, has posted an emotional tribute to her friend Hannah Rye, saying she was the reason she kept fighting her own cancer battle.

Hannah Rye made headlines last month when Newcastle Knights NRL player Trent Hodkinson was able to take the 15-year-old to her school formal despite her battle with terminal cancer.

Sadly Hannah lost her battle with Ewing sarcoma this week.

“You are strongest funniest and most amazing girl I have ever met you kept me fighting when I wanted to give up,” Charlii posted to Facebook on Monday.

“We would always cheer each other up while getting chemo, I would drag my pole into your room and we would just have a laugh and completely forget what was going on, just for a minute we forgot about cancer.”

Charlii has been clear of cancer for nine months and credits Hannah for sharing her fighting spirit.

“You were the first person I could talk to about what was going on in my life and the only one that understood what I was going through,” Charlii wrote.

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Hannah was first diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called Ewing sarcoma when she was just 13-years-old.

She underwent multiple rounds of one of the most intensive chemotherapy programs on offer and had actually been cleared of active cancer until tragically, just five months later, it returned.

She passed away this week but not before she was able to live her dream and attend her Year 10 Winter Formal with her ‘knight in shining armour’ Trent Hodkinson.

Her mother Racheal Rye said she was 'like Cinderella’ when he picked her daughter Hannah up from their home in the Hunter Valley.

'It was absolutely a magical moment when Trent turned up with a big bunch of flowers at our house. A perfect night,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

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