California beauty queen Andrea Andrade has died, nine years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Her husband, Chris Wilson, announced her passing with the words, “My eternal love. I know this isn’t goodbye.” Diagnosed in 2017 with stage III colon cancer, doctors gave Andrea six months to two years to live, but she lived nine. Her story comes as colorectal cancer continues to rise among younger adults.

Those years were shaped by purpose, not surrender. Andrea and Chris were together for eight years, married for two. Chris often spoke less about her beauty titles and more about who she was, saying, “I fell in love with her soul. She was positive, encouraging. She believed in me.” Although she held multiple beauty crowns, those closest to her say “the crowns were never what mattered most.”

During treatment, Andrea met a young boy wearing a superhero costume to chemotherapy. That moment inspired her and Chris to create Not All Heroes Wear Capes, a program that brought joy to hospitalized children through superhero visits and gifts. Andrea admitted the work was emotionally difficult, but seeing children smile made it meaningful.

Andrea later went into remission, offering hope, but the cancer returned and advanced to stage IV. Her health declined rapidly in October, though she managed to spend the holidays with family. Chris later said, “She never, never stopped fighting,” describing her as an inspiration to many.

Her first symptoms appeared at age 26 and were mistaken for other conditions. After a near-fatal hospitalization, doctors uncovered the cancer. One message stayed with her: “God gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors.” Andrea Andrade didn’t let cancer define her life. She defined it herself.