Prior to being told she had an inoperable brain tumor, Pandora Cooper-Key had been fighting cancer for 24 years.
Esmond Cooper-Key was a nobleman and Lady Mary Gaye Curzon was their daughter.
She had ten siblings and was half-sister to Anna Bonas, an actress and model.
For the first time, Princess Eugenie, Sarah Ferguson’s daughter, introduced Cressida and Prince Harry in May 2012.
Harry was famously seen naked in Las Vegas, which caused some problems between them, but they dated until April 2014.
Following that, Cressida and his other ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy attended Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in May 2018.
According to Cooper-Key, a ceramicist who used to work as an accessories designer for Vivienne Westwood, her family had planned her funeral “thousands of times.”
Later that year, the mother of two was told she had a tumor on the left side of her brain that could not be removed.
Through immunotherapy, she was hoping to get better.
Pandora, from west London, was 26 years old when she was first told she had Paget’s Disease, a rare kidney cancer.
Overcoming the illness, she had her first child about 10 years later.
Shockingly, doctors told her just weeks after giving birth that they had found a sarcoma in her left eye.
Although only a few thousand are diagnosed in the UK each year, sarcomas are very rare and aggressive tumors.
When her tear duct was removed, Cooper-Key was told she had only 10 months to live, but she fought for years.
Prior to finding another one behind her nose, one was found in her cheek and successfully removed.
She also had intense seizures that would sometimes knock her out for days.
Although Cooper-Key had eight surgeries to remove tumors and later cosmetic work, she was left with no muscles in half of her face and needed Botox to make the other half paralyzed.
Speaking to The Times in 2021, she joked, “I’m the only girl in town who gets it free.”
Next, near the end of last year, she got a brain tumor that doctors said could not be removed.
While talking to Femail a few months ago, she said, “To operate, they’d have to go through blood vessels, which is not good.”
“So they categorically said in the first meeting, ‘I’m really sorry, but we can’t’.”
Cooper-Key was described as: “Beloved daughter of the late Edmond Cooper-Key, and Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, adored mother of Bow and Nestor, so much-loved sister of her two brothers and eight sisters and devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews.”
Sarcoma UK’s Director of Communications, Kerry Reeves-Kneip, praised Cooper-Key’s work to raise awareness about the condition.
“Sharing her story so openly helped bring important attention to sarcoma and the problems patients face,” she said.
Pandora’s impact on many people’s lives went beyond her efforts to raise money; her kindness and strength remain a lasting legacy.
As a representative of Sarcoma UK, I want to send our deepest condolences to Pandora’s family, which includes her mother, Lady Mary, her sister, Cressida Bonas, her two sons, and everyone who loved her.
Pandora made a huge difference for our organization and for other people with sarcoma.
“We will honor her by continuing our mission with renewed vigor at Sarcoma UK.”
“Pandora’s kindness, courage, and indomitable spirit will forever remain in our hearts.”
