Ill Health and Death
In April 2008, Millvina had accepted an invitation to speak in Southampton at an event commemorating the 96th anniversary of the ship's sinking, but ill health resulting from a respiratory infection forced her to cancel.
In December 2008, at the age of 96, Millvina was forced to sell several of her family's possessions to pay for her private medical care following a broken hip. These possessions included a letter sent to her mother from the Titanic Relief Fund, and a suitcase given to her and her mother in New York following the ship's sinking. Their sale raised approximately £32,000. In February 2009, she announced that she would be selling several more items to pay for her increasing medical costs which she said exceeded £3,000 a month.
The 97-year-old Millvina died of pneumonia on the morning of 31 May 2009, 97 years and seven weeks after the Titanic sailed, at a care home in Ashurst, Hampshire.
On 24 October 2009, Millvina's cremated remains were scattered from a launch at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.
Read more about this topic: Millvina Dean
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