With heavy hearts, we announce the tragic passing of this American beauty queen. How she died breaks our hearts Check comments

But Andrea’s father refused to accept that outcome. He rallied their small community, bringing in enough donors to save her life. Only after transfusions and extensive testing did doctors uncover the truth: stage III colon cancer.

Andrea later reflected that, given her age, she understood why cancer hadn’t been suspected sooner.

During treatment, her aunt told her something that stayed with her forever: “God gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors.” Those words were eventually engraved on a chemotherapy bell Andrea donated to a new cancer center in Fresno—a bell patients ring when they finish treatment.

Andrea would never get to ring it herself.

She is survived by her husband, her parents, her older brother Junior, and her two younger brothers, Eric and Jose.

Her fight has ended, but her influence hasn’t. It lives on in the children she comforted, the families she uplifted, the policies she inspired, and the people who saw in her not just resilience, but grace.

Andrea Andrade didn’t let cancer define her life.