Rosemary Sara Choueka (née Kalman) was born on 15 October 1976.

She attended the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls in London. Rosie read jurisprudence at Brasenose College, Oxford University. She earned a double first with a prize in European law. Rosie went on to become a successful lawyer and was made partner at a City law firm at the age of 33.

At the time of her death she was a partner at Bristows, specialising in competition and procurement law.

Rosie lived her life to the full – at the time of her diagnosis she was 37 and already making plans for her big 40th birthday bash. She loved reading, spoke Spanish and French fluently, meticulously planned family holidays, and bought a lot of shoes.

Rosie gave back to the community and supported a number of charities and good causes including Jewish Care, planting trees in Israel, Brasenose College and sponsoring a child in Africa.

In June 2014 she found a lump in her breast. Tests confirmed she had triple negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease which does not respond to hormonal therapy. It is more common in younger women and is more likely to recur than other types of breast cancer.

She underwent a lumpectomy and eight cycles of powerful chemotherapy.  A week after the final round of chemotherapy in December 2014 she found a new second lump in her breast.  The cancer had returned and had spread to her liver. The secondary diagnosis was devastating. Medicine in this area is “shockingly uncertain,” she wrote.

Rosie immediately began another course of chemo. It appeared to be working as the tumours had shrunk, although the treatment adversely affected her blood and immune system. She made plans for a second lumpectomy and was a candidate for SIRT, a specialized treatment developed for cancer that has spread to the liver.

By May 2015 she took a break from chemotherapy to allow her bone marrow a chance to recover. She caught an infection and was hospitalized; the infection failed to respond to the most powerful antibiotics.

Rosie died on 16 June 2015.

She is survived by her husband Elliot, and their two children Natalie and Joseph.

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