Amelia Worth, a Marshfield High School graduate and student at the University of Oregon, died Tuesday at the Oregon Health & Science University hospital in Portland.

Amelia, 22, battled acute myeloid leukemia since 2003. Although she went into remission in 2004, earlier this year Amelia learned she had developed myelodyplastic syndrome, another pre-cursor to leukemia. An energetic and effervescent woman, Amelia hadn't let her health condition slow her down. She continued to attend college throughout her illness, taking distance courses when she could no longer attend classes.

She had planned to undergo a bone marrow transplant from a 24-year-old European donor last week, after spending months at OHSU for chemotherapy treatments. Fighting off periodic infections and restricted to a sterile room, Amelia fought to get back into remission so she could get the transplant.

According to her mother Patricia Worth, Amelia got a serious infection several days before she was scheduled to undergo the transplant.

“She never underwent the transplant. She had a really bad bacterial infection that she was fighting, and she ended up in the ICU fighting for her life for the last week and a half,” Patricia Worth said.

“I started saying little good-byes when she was first diagnosed. To see your child suffer so much ... it was long,” Worth said. “She fought so hard and was so saddened; she just grieved.”

Patricia Worth still is in Portland, where she had been staying to be close to Amelia. She plans to bring Amelia's ashes home on Friday.

Local benefits to help the Worth family afford the medical costs and additional expenses for Amelia's transplant raised funds throughout the summer. Coos Bay real estate broker Arch Wilkie, a family friend, was Amelia's most outspoken advocate, organizing events to benefit the family.

The news hit Wilkie hard.

“I'd been out driving when I got the call, and I had to pull over for awhile,” he said. “I just had to remind myself that when I began this effort, I wasn't in charge. Things would have turned out differently if I had been, but I wasn't.”