Beauty influencer Jessica Pettway died at the age of 36 after her cervical cancer was misdiagnosed and not immediately treated.
The famous YouTuber had amassed a 16 million person following, and was hailed as being a leading beauty influencer. She announced her diagnosis in a candid Jul. 2023 Instagram post, telling fans she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer after mistakenly being told her health ailments were due to fibrosis, according to People. Pettway’s death was confirmed by her sister Revni, according to E! Online.
Pettway’s death comes just nine months after her official diagnosis.
Reyni addressed her sister’s passing in an Instagram message posted to her private account.
“It’s my birthday today, and the only thing I could ever wish for is for God to bring you back on this earth. I lost my beautiful big sister 2 days ago, and my heart has never felt pain like this,” Reyni wrote, according to E! Online.
Her death comes nearly nine months after she revealed that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in a candid Instagram post.
View this post on Instagram
Pettway joined YouTube in Nov. 2013. By Jul. 2023, she revealed she had been misdiagnosed with fibroids told fans about her health struggle.
“I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. I don’t even know where to begin, but I want to share why I’ve been gone for so long, in hopes that at least one person is encouraged by my story,” she wrote.
View this post on Instagram
She recalled experiencing “intense vaginal bleeding” in June, 2022, which prompted her to seek medical advise.
Doctors maintained the fibrosis diagnosis through numerous hospitalizations between July 2022 and Jan. 2023, until an oncologist decided to run a biopsy in Feb. 2023.
LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 24: Jessica Pettway speaks during day one of Fashion and Beauty during the 2017 BET Experience at Los Angeles Convention Center on June 24, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for BET)
“On Feb. 8th, 2023, he performed an outpatient biopsy on me. When I woke up from the anesthesia, he casually said, ‘Yep you have stage 3 cervical cancer.’ It turns out, it was not a fibroid, but cancer. I was misdiagnosed all this time,” Pettway said in an Instagram post.
View this post on Instagram
“I remember hearing that and immediately saying to myself, ‘I refuse to make an agreement with that diagnosis.’ And so I didn’t. Being told I have cancer didn’t devastate me. It was the reaction of those close to me,” she said.
Pettway is survived by her husband, her 10-year-old Kailee, and her 3-year-old, Zoi Lee, according to Essence. (RELATED: ‘Baywatch’ Star Nicole Eggert Shaves Head On Video Amid Cancer Battle)
Funeral arrangements have not been publicly shared at this time.