At 15, most teenage girls are fussing over their first high-school crush, begging their parents to let them go to a sleepover (read: secret party), and obsessing over Katy Perry/Taylor Swift/Selena Gomez.
At 15, Eva McGauley was finding out she had cancer, sending her life into an endless cycle of hospital visits, chemotherapy, weeks of recovery, and radiation.
After going to the doctor for what she thought was glandular fever, Eva was told she had nasopharyngeal cancer.
A relatively rare form of the disease, nasopharyngeal cancer starts at the back of the nose, in the upper throat.
After initially being told she was in remission, Eva was given the news that the cancer had spread. She was now terminal.
While I can’t say for sure what I would do if I was told I had an incurable disease, I can almost certainly say my first thoughts wouldn’t be of something selfless.
Eva, on the other hand, decided that if her life was to be cut short, it better be worthwhile.
She set out on a mission to make the world a safer place for young women and men with her charity, Eva’s Wish.
“One in three girls and one in seven boys may be sexually assaulted before 16,” she says.
“It was when those statistics stopped being just numbers on a page and started being my school friends, people I knew and really cared about, that I realised I had to do something.”
Through a Givealittle page for Eva’s Wish, the incredibly driven teen has already raised over $30,000 for HELP, a New Zealand-based organisation which helps victims of sexual assault.
NZ fashion label, Lonely, heard Eva’s story and teamed up with her to do a photo shoot in hopes of raising awareness for her cause.
The popular brand is also donating all proceeds made from sales today (June 29th) on their website straight to Eva’s Wish.
The now 17-year-old, who has been volunteering for Wellington Rape Crisis since she was 14, has just set up an official website for her cause which launches tonight.
Head here to purchase Lonely and support Eva, or here for the Eva’s Wish website.
