Just two weeks ago, 13-year-old Jerilynn Brown was celebrating the biggest victory of her life — she had beaten cancer.

But on July 4th, a tragic house fire sparked by leftover fireworks stole that hard-earned joy and took her life.

Battled bone cancer
The blaze broke out around 5:30 a.m. at the family’s farmhouse in rural Independence, Missouri, when smoldering fireworks debris ignited the back of the home.

As the crews arrived on the scene, flames were pouring out from the back of the house. Firefighters launched an intense effort to get the blaze under control.

Once the fire was extinguished, they found three people inside the home.

Jerilynn and another adult — whose name has not yet been publicly released — were both killed in the fire.