Ben Watkins, former MasterChef Junior competitor, dies at 14 of a very rare disease

Watkins was diagnosed with angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, a rare form of cancer that currently only five people in the world have.

Ben Watkins, a former competitor of the famous American food program MasterChef Junior, died on Monday at the age of 14 in a children’s hospital in Chicago from a rare form of cancer he contracted a year and a half ago, according to the lawyer of Fox News. his family, Trent A. McCain.

Watkins was diagnosed angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, a soft tissue cancer that occurs most often in children and young adults. Currently only five people in the world suffer from this disease.

His death almost happens three years after the death of his parents. In September 2017, Ben’s father Michael Watkins shot and killed the boy’s mother, Leila Edwards, before taking her own life at home, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In 2018, when he was 11, Watkins joined the sixth season of MasterChef Junior, led by chef Gordon Ramsey. Among the 40 competitors of the season, the boy was part of the “top-24” who competed for the title of winner. In addition, the young man cooked at his family’s restaurant in Indiana, which is currently closed.

Gordon Ramsay used his Twitter account to express his condolences to the Watkins family. “Today we lost a master chef from MasterChef Junior. Ben, you were incredibly talented home cook and an even stronger young man. Your young life has had many difficult turns, but you have always persevered, “wrote the chef.