Erin Hope Martin, the young girl whose battle with cancer inspired thousands, died Monday.

The 11-year-old was a week away from starting sixth grade when she fell ill at home. She had been struggling for the past month, undergoing an emergency brain surgery and bouts of sickness.

“She was a hard fighter,” said Mike Hayes, Erin’s principal at Cool Spring Elementary. “She never gave up. She fought until the end.”

On Aug. 2, 2002, exactly two years before her death, Erin was diagnosed with Hepatocellular Carcinoma. The rare form of liver cancer accounts for just one out of every 2 million cases of childhood cancer.

The tumors had spread to Erin’s lungs and heart before doctors diagnosed the disease, according to her father, Jeff Martin. But that didn’t stop Erin from fighting.

“She enjoyed life,” Martin said. “It seemed like every day was a celebration.”

Erin began a Web site, www.erinhope.com, that detailed her progress through chemotherapy, her remission in late 2002 and the recurrence  in 2003. More than 35,000 people from across the world have visited the site to read her inspirational messages.

On Monday, the Web page relayed news of her death.

“Today, August 2nd, 2004, Erin Hope had a great day,” it read. “Her pain has ended and she has gone to be with God, as she always believed she would. She did not let the cancer win and her faith never wavered. She is now pain free, worry free and smiling down upon all of us left behind. She is in a better place.......she has won.”

More than 400 people visited the Web site Monday, with many posting condolences in the guest book.

“Bless this day as our Lord has welcome home Erin,” read one posting from Virginia. “May the Lord confort you all in the hours, days weeks and months to come.”

Erin’s teachers and family remember her as a strong, happy child who loved to draw and read books about animals. She wanted to be a marine biologist and a dolphin trainer when she grew up.

Hand-colored pictures of flowers adorn the Martin family refrigerator and walls, her father said.

“It seemed like every time she sat down, she was drawing a flower,” he said.

Erin was quiet in the classroom, according to her fifth-grade math teacher, Laura Harmon. But she was friends with almost everyone, and the Cool Spring staff took it hard when Hayes made the announcement Monday morning.

“She was one of the strongest and most kind children I’ve ever known,” Hayes said.

Although she missed class for chemotherapy and doctor visits, Harmon said, she always kept up with her work. She was determined to do well, even as she fell asleep on her desk because she was exhausted from treatments.

Through it all, Harmon said, she never heard Erin complain.

“Her courage was outstanding,” Harmon said. “You could look at her and know she felt terrible. But she never said a word. She was just waiting on God to heal her.”

Erin served as honorary chairman of this year’s Relay for Life, leading the survivor’s lap wearing one of her beloved blonde wigs and knit caps. Kim McKinney, the event chairman, said people seemed to be inspired by the little girl with the bright eyes.

“She had so much vitality, her eyes kind of danced,” McKinney said. “Her middle name was Hope, and for many people, that’s what she was a symbol of.”

Erin usually stayed away from the spotlight, Martin said, but used her Web site to share her strong Christian faith. Her family, including Erin’s mother, Crystal, 8-year-old sister, Hannah, and 5-year-old brother, Andrew, attend South River Baptist Church.

The day before Erin died, she felt well enough to attend church for the first time in more than a month. She read a devotional book during the service, Martin said.

Afterward, the family drove to Lake Norman to shop and see a movie. Erin got new shoes to wear to school, then watched “A Cinderella Story” with her mom and sister.

She complained that her eyelid seemed to be flickering when it really wasn’t, Martin said, but she was fine by the time the family got home. Forty-five minutes later, she told her parents her head was burning.

Her condition worsened, and her mother held her while the family drove to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. They were still there when she died.

Since the Martins returned home, they’ve been met by a deluge of well-wishes. Erin would have appreciated the thought, Martin said, but disliked it at the same time.

“She didn’t want attention. She didn’t want to act like she was sick,” he said. “She just wanted to be herself and have fun.

“She wanted to live life to the fullest, and she did. She really did.”

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

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