Emily Beazley, who waged public battle with cancer, dies at 12

Emily Beazley, the 12-year-old girl who talked to Taylor Swift and got to serve as a Chicago cop during a public battle with cancer died Tuesday morning.

Emily’s mother, Nadia Beasley, posted a message about the Mount Greenwood girl’s passing on her Facebook page: “My beautiful Emily got to use her angel wings. She fought hard to the end. Her last gift to me was passing peacefully.”

Emily Beazley had been stricken with Stage 3 T-Cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin lymphoma since April 2011. She finished treatment in July 2013. Since then, she has relapsed several times. Last August, her little sister Olivia donated stem cells but Emily relapsed again in January.

Most recently, Beazley’s supporters, known affectionately as “Emily’s Entourage,” rallied (and won) to have her family’s street at 108th and Homan Avenue named in Emily Beazley’s honor. The city recently honored Emily with a Chicago skyline lit up in purple and green.

Emily built a close friendship with White Sox manager Robin Ventura. She threw out a ceremonial first pitch to Ventura on May 10 at U.S. Cellular Field. In 2011, whe was joined by Ventura for a cameo appearance at the Goodman Theater via the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“It’s sad. It breaks your heart,” Ventura said before the Sox played the Cleveland Indians Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field. “For me being a parent. … with her passing she was a tough kid going through something unimaginable. Her attitude, being upbeat the way she was through it all, you learn things. You get a perspective on what is important. Her and the family and everything the community did for her was incredible. She jammed a lot in in 12 years, especially the last three to four. Your heart breaks. It’s incredibly sad.”

The family is asking for privacy, though a public memorial is being planned, according to the mother’s Facebook post.

Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura , center, poses with Emily Beazley, right, a cancer patient who threw out a ceremonial first pitch and her sister Olivia, before the start of a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds in Chicago on Sunday, May 10, 2015. | Matt Marton / AP