Jessica Pettway, a beauty influencer with more than 16 million views on YouTube, has died. She was 36 years old.
Her death comes nearly nine months after she revealed she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in a heartfelt Instagram post. Her sister Reyni announced the news on Instagram on Friday, Feb Hey! On the line.
“Today is my birthday and the only thing I could ever wish for is for God to bring you back to this earth. I lost my beautiful older sister 2 days ago and my heart has never felt pain like this,” Reyni wrote under photos of the two, the paper states.
Jessica Pettway shares a selfie on Instagram.
Jessica Pettway/Instagram
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The outlet reported that Reyni remembers her sister as “amazing, strong, confident” and someone “with so much wisdom, who prayed for me and helped me become a better mother.”
Pettway joined YouTube in November 2013, posting nearly 450 videos and amassing over 225,000 subscribers.
When she went public with her diagnosis in July 2023, Pettway revealed that she was initially misdiagnosed with fibroids, described as “common growths on the uterus,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
“I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. I don’t even know where to start, but I want to share why I’ve been away for so long, in the hope that at least one person will be encouraged by my story,” Pettaway wrote.
The author of the content recalled the first symptoms that appeared after “intense vaginal bleeding” in June 2022.
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Pettway received the same diagnosis through her hospitalizations between July 2022 and January 2023 until her February 2023 oncologist visit.
“On February 8, 2023, he performed an outpatient biopsy. When I woke up from anesthesia, he casually said, ‘Yes, you have stage 3 cervical cancer.’ Turns out it wasn’t a fibroid, it was cancer. I was misdiagnosed this whole time,” Pettway wrote.
“I remember hearing that and immediately saying to myself, ‘I refuse to agree with that diagnosis.’ And so I didn’t. Being told I had cancer didn’t destroy me. It was the reaction of those close to me,” she continued.
The social media personality was mom to Kailee, 10, and Zoe Lee, 3, with her husband of 12 years, according to Essence.
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Jessica Pettway shares a photo with her loved ones on Instagram.
Jessica Pettway/Instagram
Pettway described the feeling of watching her loved ones witness her medical journey in an Instagram post that August.
“Whenever you’re dealing with an illness, it doesn’t just affect you, it changes the lives of those closest to you. This year has rocked our world. From countless hospital stays. To financial hardships. We’ve been through it all! Girls are too young to understand, but still noticed the changes,” Pettway wrote.
She expressed that watching her husband break down “was difficult”, but that they “committed that we will get through this together”.
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“We moved forward and did our best not to let the current circumstances get us down. It definitely wasn’t easy, but we made it this far,” Pettway added.
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Source: HIS Education