Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s only great-granddaughter dies at 31 from breast cancer

The only great-granddaughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Sr. has died at age 31 after battling breast cancer for many years. 

Desiree S. Anzalone was first diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer at the age of 25 and underwent a double mastectomy. Two years ago, she learned her cancer returned as stage 4 and had spread to her liver, lungs and bones.

After a long fight, she died on Sept. 27 at the Smilow Cancer Center in Connecticut.

Her mother, Julia Arnaz, said "watching her slip away was just, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. No mother should have to watch that." She said her daughter died peacefully but they were expecting her to stay with them at least through the holidays.  

“She kept getting fluid around her heart and then they kept doing surgeries and it would come back like two weeks later. And this time, they did the surgery and came back 12 hours later,” her mother said. Doctors then warned she only had days to hours left.

"She really, really reminded me a lot of my grandmother, more so than I,” her mother said.