Leah Smith, a TikTok star best known for documenting her health journey and battle with cancer, has died. She was 22.
The news of Smith’s death was announced on Monday in a video posted to her TikTok page by her boyfriend, Andrew.
“I’m sad to say that she passed away today around half-eleven this morning,” Andrew stated in the post. “I just want to say thank you to everyone. All your comments did help. Like, she did actually read all of them.”
“Anyone who said anything nice ever, it means more than you realize,” Andrew added. “We’ll all miss Leah, but we’ll make sure that we never forget her.”
Smith used her platform — which reached over 525,000 followers — to document her battle with Ewing Sarcoma — which, according to the Mayo Clinic, is “a type of cancer that begins as a growth of cells in the bones and the soft tissue around the bones.” It usually affects children and young adults.
Smith began documenting her battle in 2019, and after treatment, she was in remission before the illness resurfaced in 2022.
In January, Smith shared a post detailing the toll the cancer had taken on her health and her quality of life, and the following month, she revealed that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body.
In the days leading up to her death, Smith’s brother, Liam, and another close friend shared updates, explaining that her pain medication and illness had made it impossible for her to share updates herself.
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