Jessica Roark, shown in this May 2009 file photo, died Aug. 22. She had battled adenoid cystic carcinoma, all the while striving to make the world around her a better place.

When Stan Loeb tells people about Jessica Roark, he often talks about her positive outlook. But it often just sounds inadequate, he admits.

The words don’t seem to do much justice in describing the KU alumna from Meriden who earned two degrees while battling a rare form of cancer.

“She never felt sorry for herself,” said Loeb, KU environmental specialist and a former staff adviser who worked with Roark in the department of environment, health and safety. “We’re all blessed because she shared what she shared with us.”

Roark died Aug. 22 — nine days before her 26th birthday. Adenoid cystic carcinoma had taken one of her eyes, and eventually her sight. But those who knew her well said the cancer never reached her soul or her continual drive to make the world around her a better place.

She had been accepted to graduate programs at Arizona State and Purdue before the latest cancer flare-up caused her to put those plans on hold.

Roark battled the cancer since 2006 on her own terms, saying in a 2009 article in the Journal-World that she had learned with her rare disease to do her own research and not to necessarily take what doctors told her as gospel.

“I have a path I’m going to take, and whatever I want I’m going to go and get it,” she said at the time. “I’m not afraid to advocate for myself.”

Loeb, who spoke to Roark last week while she was in a hospital bed, said she was always trying to save the world — and he should know, after reading three of her research proposals.

“She did help a lot of people,” Loeb said. “I guess she did save a lot of the world. If more people were like her, the world would be a better place.”

Roark is survived by her parents, a stepmother, a brother and two sisters.

Services are scheduled from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at Lawrence Chapel Oaks funeral home, 3821 W. Sixth St. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation, online at www.accrf.org, or the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.