'He was loved by everyone' - Tributes paid to Shropshire man who had battled cancer since being a teenager
Tributes have been paid to a Shropshire man who has died after battling cancer since the age of 19.
Joel Hassall, 25, from Oswestry, died on Friday night at Severn Hospice, in Shrewsbury, after spending six years fighting the disease.
Today his mum Jenette Morris described her son as "one of the kindest and most caring people who was loved by everyone".
She said: "Joel was funny and caring but he could also be stubborn and opinionated. He was always just Joel, and despite everything he went though he still had time for everyone and to listen to everyone else.
"Joel was a really popular lad with such a wide range of friends, he had his school friends but also friends he had met more recently, he was widely known and loved for who he was."
Despite first learning he had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a type of cancer related to white blood cells, when he was 19, Mrs Morris said that didn't stop Joel, of Langland Road, living life to the full.
She said: "Joel was a real fighter and just carried on, he didn't want to be wrapped up in cotton wool, he never once said 'why me?'.
"He just got on with it and enjoyed life, and his friends played a real part in that by taking him out, and just letting him be a normal person, which is all he wanted."
In 2013, Joel was given bone marrow from a donor in America.
While he was undergoing treatment, friends and the community set up a charity, Joel's Goal, to help his family and care for Joel.
The funds allowed Joel to have a holiday and it covered travelling costs and bought him a laptop.
Mrs Morris said Joel's funeral date is to be confirmed. Joel leaves his mother Jenette, father Martin, brothers Luke and Cain and sister Molly.
