Eva Mónica Anna Ekvall Johnson (March 15, 1983 – December 17, 2011) was a Venezuelan television news anchor, author, advocate in the fight against breast cancer, fashion model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Venezuela 2000. After winning the competition, she had a brief career in television before being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

Early life

Ekvall was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She was raised in both the United States and Venezuela and was fluent in English and Spanish from childhood. Ekvall attended the Academia Washington of Caracas. Her father, Eric Ekvall, was an American of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

descent, who had lived in Venezuela since the early 1980s and worked as an actor and political consultant. Her mother, Dawn Johnson, was born in Jamaica, and once ran a small modelling agency in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, where she met Eva's father. Eva grew up with an older brother, Alec, who is a musician.

Career

Aged 17, Ekvall was crowned Miss Venezuela 2000, and the next year was third runner-up in the Miss Universe Pageant. As a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, she was the first non-Christian to have won the title of Miss Venezuela. After a brief period as an actress on the

Televen Televen (a contraction of and legally known as Corporación Televen C.A.) is a private Venezuelan national television network headquartered on the Caracas neighborhood of Horizonte. For this reason it is also called 'Canal de Horizonte'. Televen ...

TV show ''Las Rottenmayer'', Ekvall went on to earn a degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

from Universidad Santa María in Caracas. Shortly afterwards she joined ''El Noticiero'' as a co-anchor for Televen. Ekvall expressed interest in doing radio and could fill in as a temporary host of a radio program on Circuito Onda. She also worked for Sexto Poder newspaper as an

online interview An online interview is an online research method conducted using computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as instant messaging, email, or video. Online interviews require different ethical considerations, sampling and rapport than practices fou ...

er by means of BBM, the first of its kind on the Venezuelan printed media. As a model, Ekvall was frequently featured in magazines including ''Sambil'' and ''Ocean Drive''.

Personal life

Ekvall married radio producer John Fabio Bermúdez in September 2007. The couple had one daughter, Miranda, born in July 2009.

Cancer

In February 2010, just months after giving birth to her only child, Ekvall was diagnosed with advanced

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, and underwent eight months of treatment that included

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle ...

and a double radical

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

. She chronicled this experience in a book of photographs, ''Fuera de Foco'' (Out of Focus), released in December 2010. She went on to become an advocate for SenosAyuda, a cancer awareness group.

Death

When told to have had a recurrence of her disease, Ekvall moved to the United States and checked into University General Hospital in Houston, Texas. Despite the intense medical treatment, her health condition began deteriorating and she died in the afternoon of December 17, 2011. In a statement, Ekvall's family said her remains were to be cremated in Houston. Ekvall's death brought an outpouring of condolences from Venezuelans, including some prominent artists and politicians. Ekvall's husband posted a photo on Twitter Sunday showing a close-up of his hand holding hers, resting on a hospital bed, with the words "Always together... I love you wife". On March 1, 2012, her husband established the Eva Ekvall Foundation.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekvall, Eva 1983 births 2011 deaths Deaths from breast cancer in Texas Miss Universe 2001 contestants Miss Venezuela winners Mass media people from Caracas Models from Caracas Venezuelan Buddhists Venezuelan television personalities Universidad Santa María (Venezuela) alumni