U.K. “Antiques Roadshow” star and cancer-research advocate Theo Burrell has died of glioblastoma, four years after being diagnosed and told she had 12 to 18 months to live.

She was 39.

Her final decline was unexpectedly rapid, her family said in an Instagram post announcing her death on Saturday.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news that Theo passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday afternoon,” said a notice on Burrell’s account. “Neither she nor her medical team foresaw this happening quite so quickly.”

Burrell was 35 when she was diagnosed in June 2022 after six months of symptoms that she later learned were “textbook symptoms, but my GP struggled to pick up on them,” she said in a video for the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care in March.

Burrell, a ceramics and glass expert with Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh, had served as a specialist appraising items on BBC’s “Antiques Roadshow” (the precursor to the version that airs on PBS in the U.S.) since 2018, the BBC said. Upon being diagnosed she immediately began advocating for cancer research and awareness.

Two surgeries and 17 rounds of chemotherapy later, Burrell had lived to see her son’s first day of school and marry her partner, Alex, in March. In June she marked four years since her diagnosis, noting that “ no one can take that away from me.”

In 2023 Burrell signed on as a patron of Brain Tumour Research, a British charity with the mission of curing brain cancer as well as other such tumors.

“We are heartbroken that we have lost the phenomenal, determined and truly inspiring Theo Burrell to this devastating disease,” CEO Dan Knowles said in a statement. “She was always very open about her prognosis and knew from the outset her cancer was terminal, but she was absolutely determined to make a difference for others. She constantly inspired us with how big her heart was and we will continue on our mission, driven by everything she taught us. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends and with all those who had the privilege of knowing her.”

Condolences and tributes poured in from the organizations and communities dedicated to people with the disease.

“She was an incredible person who fought hard for her family, friends and raising awareness of this cruel disease,” her family said. “The cancer community provided so much comfort and strength to her in her darkest moments. But most of all it provided hope, and I think what she would want most of all is for other people to find hope in her story.”

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