Queen of Katwe Star, Nikita Pearl Kampala who played the role of Phiona Mutesi has died from a brain tumor in a hospital at Kampala on Saturday.

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Nikita starred in the 2016 Disney movie and played the role of Phiona Mutesi, a chess prodigy who came from a slum in Uganda. The movie was based on a true story.

According to BBC, Nikita was diagnosed with the tumor in 2016 and that prompted the director of the movie Mira Nair to raise money for her treatment in India since Uganda did not have the necessary health equipment.

In 2017, Nikita received an all-clear and even returned to Secondary School and in 2019, another tumor was found.

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The second tumor is what has led to her eventual death. Tributes have poured in from colleague actors she acted with on the set of Queen Of Katwe.

May her young soul rest in peace.

View this post on Instagram

It is with great sadness that I post about the passing of Nikita Waligwa, the sweet, warm, talented girl whom I worked with on the film, Queen Of Katwe. She played Gloria with such vibrancy. In her real life she had the enormous challenge of battling brain cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and community as they come to terms with having to say goodbye so soon. May she truly rest in piece. May it be well with her soul.

A post shared by Lupita Nyong’o (@lupitanyongo) on Feb 16, 2020 at 3:44pm PST

Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com