High Spirits Marked Placentia Girl, 13, Who Died After Battle With Cancer

A 13-year-old Placentia girl with a rare form of cancer whose cheerful forbearance made her a favorite patient at the UC Irvine Clinical Cancer Center died as a result of the disease Sept. 19.

Maria Flores contracted adrenocortical carcinoma, a particularly virulent glandular cancer that strikes only one in every 2 million children, more than eight years ago. During those years, she underwent eight operations to remove or reduce tumors that eventually spread throughout her body when the disease became inoperable.

However, in spite of the great pain she often endured, Maria seldom complained about her condition and frequently asked about the progress of other children who were being treated for cancer at UCI, according to doctors and others who treated her.

“Maria’s very brave,” said the girl’s oncologist, Dr. Violet Shen, in a story about Maria that appeared in The Times on June 2. “She has bad days sometimes, but she never gets angry or complains. She always smiles, even though she knows the disease is incurable.”

Maria was the daughter of Leobardo and Alba Luz Flores of Placentia and is survived by four siblings: Marissa, 18; Fernando, 12; Christina, 9; and, Leobardo Jr., 5. A funeral Mass for her was celebrated Monday at St. Anthony Claret Catholic Church in Anaheim.