ESPN Reporter Edward Aschoff Had Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma When He Died, His Fiancée Reveals
At the time of his death last month, Edward Aschoff had stage 4, non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in his lungs.
Almost one month after the ESPN reporter died on his 34th birthday, fiancée Katy Berteau revealed that in addition to his bout with pneumonia, the cancer — which was not detected until after his death — had affected his health.
“Hi all, Katy again – this will be my last post on Edward’s social media,” Berteau wrote on Wednesday. “I wanted to provide an update about Edward’s passing that may help people in processing it and making a little more sense of what happened.”
“After his passing, the hospital received the final results from his lung biopsy. Unbeknownst to us, Edward had stage 4, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his lungs. This is an aggressive type of cancer that is usually undetectable until it is very advanced,” she added.
Berteau went on to explain that both non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and pneumonia “can trigger” HLH (hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis), a rare condition that causes the immune system to harm itself, which Aschoff found out he had before his death.
“All of this combined is what led to his very rapid decline those last few days, and ultimately his passing,” she wrote.
A post shared by Edward Aschoff | ESPN (@ecaschoff) on Jan 15, 2020 at 4:05pm PST
RELATED: ESPN College Football Reporter Dies on 34th Birthday After Recently Contracting Pneumonia
Berteau, who was set to wed Aschoff in April of this year, went on to share that she hoped this knowledge would help others deal with the tragedy of his sudden death.
“It has helped me knowing that his passing was inevitable, and I’m at least grateful he didn’t have to go through the painful treatment and drawn out process of battling the disease,” she wrote, before jokingly adding: “He wouldn’t have wanted to go out like that. His ass was too vain.
“I also wanted to provide this update because he would have wanted everyone to know that something way bigger than pneumonia took him down,” she added. “In lieu of flowers, we’re asking that donations be made to a scholarship fund being set up by the University of Florida’s School of Journalism and Communications.”
Continuing, she wrote: “Again, thank you to everyone for your continuous support. To all of you who have reached out, provided and offered support, donated, attended services, shared their favorite Edward stories, how he touched your life, thank you.”
After contracting pneumonia earlier in December, Aschoff, an on-air reporter for ESPN who covered college football, went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with multifocal pneumonia, a more progressed, widespread lung infection.
Doctors prescribed antibiotic treatment that didn’t reverse the reporter’s worsening symptoms, Berteau previously said. Within three days of being sent to the intensive care unit, Aschoff died on Dec. 24.
