SA netball community rocked as Oakdale’s kind-hearted star loses battle with bone cancer
Charlotte Agostino, a kind soul and a firecracker on the netball court, was taken too soon by a rare cancer. Read her sister’s tribute and how her legacy is being honoured.
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Kind-hearted, selfless and a firecracker on the netball court – that's how Oakdale junior star Charlotte Agostino will be remembered.
The youngster lost a 20-month battle with osteosarcoma – a type of bone cancer most commonly found in people under 25 – on Monday, April 5.
She was 18.
Charlotte’s older sister Sophie, who plays for Oakdale’s Premier League side, said she had lost her “best friend” but was determined to remember the good times the pair shared.
“She was so selfless and it was so admirable because she was faced with the worst hand but she always cared about other people,” Sophie, 21, said.
“She was very unwell on the Saturday and Sunday (before her death) but it was one of her best friend’s birthdays on Saturday then another one of her best friend’s birthdays was Sunday … she asked me ‘Sophie can you please message this girl for her birthday and tell her I love her?’
“We were inseparable and we always had so much fun together, we were best friends.
“I have so many funny memories of her.
“Just before Christmas Charlotte, my brother Jack and I went on a siblings getaway to Moana for a weekend and it was so fun.
“We just ate dinner together, went to the beach, painted potplants, watched movies and it was so cool to get away with just the three of us.”
Sophie said Charlotte was a talented netballer but her cancer diagnosis robbed her of her sporting career, as it forced her to stop playing.
“She was quite talented and she could play anywhere (on the court).
“Her main strength was wing attack and centre.
“She was definitely a firecracker of a player, you could tell exactly what she was thinking by her facial expressions.
“She brought other people up and she loved having fun and making netball interesting.”
Charlotte, the youngest of three siblings and a former Sacred Heart College student, was diagnosed with cancer in August 2019.
Doctors soon found it had spread to her lungs.
Charlotte had an operation to replace her femur and a plate was put in, resulting in a 34cm scar.
She also underwent a knee replacement and chemotherapy.
The netball club rallied around the family last year by having players wear gold shoelaces as part of the Childhood Cancer Association’s Gold Laces campaign.
All funds raised went to support kids battling cancer.
Although there were no active signs of the disease in July last year, Charlotte suffered a relapse and fought bravely until she lost her battle just over a week ago.
“Her oncologist said to us that we should bring Christmas forward because they didn’t think she would make it to Christmas, this was towards the end of November,” Sophie said.
“That was very hard to hear.
“But then she soldiered on and was perfectly fine on the outside for Christmas.
“She had her 18th birthday in January.
“It was like she wasn’t even unwell because she appeared so well on the outside even though the cancer was on the inside destroying her body.
“Then towards the end of February, early March, she had more scans of her lungs and the lungs were really bad and everything had escalated.
“She got to spend the weekend (before she passed away) with us which was really good.
“Breathing, especially at night, was quite difficult for her but we still had moments when she was laughing and hanging out with us.”
Sophie said she, her mum Jo, dad, Anthony and older brother Jack, 23, had received so much support from extended family members, friends and the sporting community.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Oakdale said Charlotte would be remembered as a “bubbly, friendly, sassy young lady, a talented netballer with an incredible infectious personality”.
Jack played for West Adelaide and the Bloods wore black armbands during their SANFL match against Adelaide on Saturday in memory of Charlotte.
Sacred Heart College also hosted a memorial honouring Charlotte, who graduated Year 12 last year, in the school Chapel on Sunday.
“It goes to show how many people were and still are impacted by Charlotte,” Sophie said.
“The type of effect she had on people and it goes to show how much people actually cared about her.
“Heaps of people are coming forward and sharing stories about her and it’s so heartwarming.”
Sophie said the family was determined to raise funds and awareness for the Childhood Cancer Association as well as the Sarcoma and Bone Cancer Research Foundation Association Inc.
She encouraged people to buy and don gold laces and also donate if they could to the Sarcoma and Bone Cancer Research Foundation Association Inc to help find a cure.
“She had this big thing about not being forgotten and I was like ‘of course you’re never going to be forgotten, Charlotte’.
“I want to raise awareness for Childhood Cancer because any child who suffers from cancer is heartbreaking and we don’t want to have children going through that.
“A great way to do that is to buy the gold laces and so many kids play sport so it’s really easy to chuck a pair on your shoes and it looks good, having a little sparkle on your feet.
“The other foundation my family is hoping to raise money for is the Sarcoma and Bone Cancer Research Foundation Association Inc.
“We don’t want Charlotte to be another statistic.
“We hope in the future no children or young teenagers have to go through what she went through and what our family is still going through.
“I’m 100 per cent proud of her, she was so brave.
“I am definitely going to miss her every day.
“It’s like there is a missing piece of our family puzzle that’s gone.
“But we are lucky we have each other and we are not alone.”
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