Eva Mendes' is mourning the death of her older brother, Juan Carlos, who passed away on April 17 after losing a tragic battle with throat cancer. He was 53.

Mendes' younger brother, Carlo Mendez confirmed the news via an Instagram post. "With absolute pain and sadness in my heart this is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through in my life and as I'm writing this I'm still in disbelief. My brother has passed away peacefully this morning," Carlo wrote. "He fought with all his might and power and gave cancer one hell of a fight."

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Carlos was diagnosed with throat cancer approximately a year-and-a-half ago and is a father to two children aged 13 and 5. During his battle with cancer,

A memorial service was held for Carlos at the Church of the Recessional in Glendale, California on Tuesday, according to another Instagram post shared by Carlo, in which he described his Carlos as a "funny charming genius comedian creative hot tempered crazy calm person."

Earlier this month, the 42-year-old 2 Fast 2 Furious actress also shared a black-and-white Instagram picture of herself and Carlo at the Hollywood Stands Up to Cancer event held in January and captioned the post with a heart emoji.

"Tonight I'm here with my family and my brother Carlos, who had [cancer] treatment today," the actress told the audience during her speech to introduce Katie Couric at the event.

In addition to Carlos and Eva, Carlo is survived by his parents, his wife and two children.

 ♥️

A photo posted by Eva Mendes (@evamendes) on Apr 1, 2016 at 12:41pm PDT

With absolute pain and sadness in my heart this is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through in my life and as I'm writing this I'm still in disbelief. My brother has passed away peacefully this morning. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for those who have prayed and have kept my brother in your thoughts and who wished him to get better. He fought with all his might and power and gave cancer one hell of a fight. He leaves behind behind a 13 year old and a 5 year old. I love you my brother may god bless you and I'll see you once again. A photo posted by Carlo Mendez (@cmendez78) on Apr 17, 2016 at 9:20am PDT

 Here is the info many of you have been asking for. To remember who my brother was and the impact he left on us. The amazing person he was, the funny charming genius comedian creative hot tempered crazy calm person that he was. I still can't believe this has happened. I'm crying as I write this and I have no idea how to cope with him being gone but I want to thank you all who have reached out to me and believe me when I say your messages make me feel a little bit better. My life will never be the same without him. Thank you all.

A photo posted by Carlo Mendez (@cmendez78) on Apr 20, 2016 at 7:59pm PDT

 

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