People who followed former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall's fight with breast cancer mourn for her death at age 28.Her family reported that Ekvall died at a Houston hospital on Saturday.

Eva Ekvall won a crown when she was 17 years old. In 2001, the year after she was crowned Miss Venezuela, she got the third runner-up place during the Miss Universe pageant held in Puerto Rico.

She wrote "Fuera de Foco" ("Out of Focus"), a book that covers her fight with cancer. The book includes photos of her taken by Roberto Mata, Venezuelan photographer.

"I needed to send the message of the need for cancer prevention," she said to El Nacional during an interview last year after her book was published.

An image of her with makeup and head shaved appeared to be the cover of the book. Inside included her pictures while undergoing chemotherapy.

"I hate to see photos in which I come out ugly," Ekvall told El Nacional hoping that she would recover from it. "But you know what? Nobody ever said cancer is pretty or that I should look like Miss Venezuela when I have cancer."

Ekvall's family planned to have her remains cremated in Houston on Monday. A service will be held in their home country once the remains will be returned.

"I feel more Venezuelan than anybody," said Ekvall in an interview last 2007. She defended her being Venezuelan despite the fact that her father is American of Swedish, Hungarian descent and her mother is Jamaican.

Ekvall had a daughter who is 2 years old and was married to John Fabio Bermudez, a radio producer.

Her death has mourned the people in Venezuela especially those famous politicians and celebrities.

A sketch of her depicted as a white angel with a pink ribbon on her chest was posted on Twitter.

On the same networking site, her husband uploaded a close-up picture of him holding her hands while resting on the bed. The photo was captioned "Always together...I love you wife."