Fallen Cypress Lake High student had brain cancer

SOUTH FORT MYERS, Fla. A Cypress Lake High School student who died in March was suffering from stage four brain cancer, an autopsy showed.

The March 18 death of senior 17-year-old Ryan Farrell, who played football and ran track, shook the school community and left classmates grieving. Questions surrounded the circumstances of his death, but examiners concluded it had nothing to do with any football injury.

“These complications would most likely have occurred regardless of coincident trauma,” the autopsy states. “Furthermore, the existence and growth of this tumor likely predated the trauma that had occurred. The manner of death is natural.”

Tumors also lined Farrell’s spine, according to the autopsy.

Those who knew Farrell recalled him as easygoing with a bright future. NCAA Division III schools had shown interest in him as an athlete.