Pop star Amir Fryszer Guttman died while trying to save his little niece, 5, from drowning at party to celebrate him getting all-clear from cancer
Amir Fryszer Guttman was celebrating the anniversary of his all-clear with family and friends in Haifa, Israel
A POP singer who was mistakenly told he had terminal cancer died saving his five-year-old niece from drowning at a beach party he threw to celebrate being given a clean bill of health.
Amir Fryszer Guttman, 41, an actor and activist who shot to fame in boy band Hi-five in the late 1990s, had invited 30 friends and relatives to a beach south of Haifa, in the north of Israel.
The party was held on July 22 to celebrate a year since he was given the all-clear - a date he called his "new birthday".
Guttman, another adult and his niece went swimming and were overcome by the rough sea.
The father-of-one heroically held the girl above the water until she and the other adult were saved by surfers.
He was swept away and found an hour later before being rushed to hospital in Haifa but doctors could not revive him, reports the Times.
In March last year, he had been given a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and endured chemotherapy in hospital.
But when Guttman sought a second opinion medics revealed that he did not have cancer but another non-fatal condition that had similar symptoms.
Guttman filed a £1.1 million lawsuit against Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv earlier this month.
He came out in 2007 as was a well-known gay activist.
In 2009 he was the first public figure to marry in a same-sex wedding in Israel and took the name of his husband, Yanai Fryszer.
The couple's son, Roy, is now four.
After his first diagnosis last year he said: "I received the news and the diagnosis of the doctors and I'm learning to deal with them.
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"I am a believer and optimistic about the rest of the way ahead. I would like to concentrate now on my recovery.
"I thank the medical staff for the devoted care, and I believe that together we will win."
At his funeral his brother, Eyal Perry, the father of the girl who was saved, said: "You ascended in a storm to the heavens, as only you know how.
"We thank you for every moment you were with us."
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