A Montgomery Blair High School student died last week after a seven-year battle with cancer.
Amaris Arias, a 15-year-old and rising 10th-grade student at Blair in Silver Spring, died July 23 from complications of kidney cancer, according to an online fundraiser for Arias.
The fundraiser had raised more than $5,000 as of Monday afternoon to be used for Arias’s funeral expenses and medical bills. The description said Arias enjoyed music and sports, especially basketball.
In a letter to Blair families, Principal Renay Johnson said counselors and psychologists are available at the school for students. Blair has about 3,100 students, according to school system documents.
Johnson wrote that Arias’s family and friends described her as a “wonderful big sister and helpful daughter.”
“Although too ill to attend school last year, Amaris was a Blazer and we will miss her,” Johnson wrote. “The loss of a student is always tragic and difficult to accept. When a student dies, we reflect on the legacy that the person left behind.”
Details about Arias’s funeral arrangements were not immediately available.
Kidney cancer is “very uncommon” in people younger than 45 years old, according to the American Cancer Society, but it is among the 10 most common cancers in both men and women.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
