BOSTON -- The Quincy, Mass., breast cancer patient whose struggle with the government captured the public's heart died Friday.

It was Tina Yuan's dying wish that she be reunited with her parents, but the U.S. government had refused to grant her parents a visa, fearing they would not return to China.

Her oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital had written many letters on her behalf and her lawyer had reached out to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's office, but Homeland Security believed her parents fit the profile of people who would overstay their visa if allowed into the country.

Only after NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported on the dispute, were her parents allowed to enter the country in September. They were by her side when she died.

Yuan would have celebrated her 42nd birthday Saturday. She leaves behind a young son and teenage daughter.