Reality TV star Diem Brown dies of cancer at 32

Diem Brown attends the 17th Annual Super Saturday Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Benefit, presented by QVC, at Nova's Ark Project in Water Mill, in New York, July 26, 2014. (Scott Roth / Invision)

NEW YORK -- Diem Brown has lost a long battle with cancer.

The reality star and advocate for cancer survivors died Friday in a New York hospital, according to E! Network correspondent Alicia Quarles. She was 32.

Brown first won fame nearly a decade ago as a competitor on MTV's "Real World/Road Rules Challenge." She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 23, and announced her real-life challenge on the show.

Undaunted, she continued to appear on "The Challenge" until recently, because, she said, it obliged her to keep pushing herself.

"But there were times I felt alone, and overwhelmed by side effects and medical expenses," she told The Associated Press in 2012.

That led her to establish Medgift.com, an online gift registry enabling those with medical troubles to seek financial help as well as physical and emotional support. Her TV celebrity, she explained, gave her "the opportunity to make lives of other patients better."

In a statement, MTV called Brown "a true fighter (who) brought passion to everything she touched."

And as recently as Tuesday, she still sounded a battle call by tweeting: "My doctors are seemingly giving up but I won't & can't rollover. Whatever option I have to LIVE I'm grabbing!"