‘MasterChef Junior’ contestant loses battle with cancer at age 14

Fan favourite MasterChef Junior competitor Ben Watkins has lost his battle with cancer. The 14-year-old passed away on Monday November 14, roughly 18 months after he was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease.According to The Chicago Tribune, Watkins died at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, surrounded by loved ones like his uncle and guardian, Anthony Edwards, as well as his massive Marvel comics collection. “We were praying for a different outcome,” Edwards told the publication. “But Ben's lungs could no longer give him the air he needed to breathe. It's been devastating.”Just after Watkins’ 13^th birthday, doctors diagnosed him with a rare illness called Angiomatoid Fibrous Histiocytoma. The soft tissue tumor is linked to children and young adults, but Watkins was one of only six people in the world known to have the disease. A GoFundMe page had previously been set up in the child’s honour, and the page has since been transformed into a memorial fund.

On behalf of DeAnna and I and the entire City of Gary, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Ben's family. The City will always have #Love4Ben. https://t.co/LJMQK7af6V

— Mayor Jerome Prince (@GaryMayorPrince) November 17, 2020

Watkins’ form of cancer was so rare that one of his doctors wrote papers about it, and the teen and his family had consented for tissues to be donated to research following his death. “Despite all the pain and sickness Ben went through, he never complained, not once,” Edwards added to the Tribune.When Watkins was 11 years old he competed on the sixth season MasterChef Junior, easily becoming a fan favourite with his sunny attitude. Although he didn’t make it far on the show (he made the Top 18 but was sent home in a double elimination in the third episode), he had big dreams of opening his own bakery or a restaurant like his father, who had owned Big Ben’s Bodacious Barbecue & Deli.In 2017 Watkins lost his parents in a murder-suicide, and Ben’s grandmother Donna Edwards and her younger brother, Anthony Edwards, became his guardians. Following his parents’ death, Ben told his uncle that a lot of kids have lost their parents to domestic violence, according to the Tribune. “I’m one of the lucky ones because I’ve got a grandma and an uncle who love me,” he reportedly said at the time.

We lost a Master of the @MasterChefJrFOX kitchen today. Ben you were an incredibly talented home cook and even stronger young man. Your young life had so many tough turns but you always persevered. Sending all the love to Ben Watkins’ family with this terrible loss Gx pic.twitter.com/RX81hP7lbw

— Gordon Ramsay (@GordonRamsay) November 17, 2020

Love from the MasterChef family poured in following the tragic news. “Ben you were an incredibly talented home cook and even stronger young man,” wrote Gordon Ramsay.“It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Ben Watkins, a beloved member of the MasterChef Junior family,” added EndelmolShine North America and Fox Entertainment in a statement. “Ben overcame so much in his life with a remarkably positive attitude. He was a tremendous role model for chefs of all ages and will be dearly missed.”[video_embed id='2059507']Before you go: Ontario family raising awareness about rare brain tumour in response to child’s terminal diagnosis[/video_embed]