The TikTok community and beyond are mourning the passing of Maddy Baloy, who passed away on Wednesday, May 1 after a battle with cancer.
The late TikTok star, who was only 26 years old, went viral on the social media platform in the past year as she documented her journey living with terminal cancer.
Maddy is survived by her mom Carissa Talmege and her stepfather Lucky Talmege, as well as her fiancé Louis Risher, who opened up about her tragic passing.
Speaking with People, Louis revealed that Maddy "passed away peacefully" on his 27th birthday, "surrounded with love."
"She is so special," he said, and added of the difficult date: "I was holding her hand all day and that's all I needed."
During her time on TikTok – on which her bio reads "stage iv cool girl" – Maddy amassed a whopping 447,000 followers, and some of her last videos include her detailing her journey with terminal cancer, giving a tour of her tattoos, giving fans an update on her 20 item bucket list, which included meeting Gordon Ramsay (she did), and one featuring Taylor Lautner and wife Taylor Dome, from when she appeared on their podcast, another one of her bucket list wishes.
© InstagramShe previously told People she joined TikTok after feeling "alone and isolated" following her diagnosis, which she received in early 2023.
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Maddie, who was a teacher at Shore Acres Elementary in Florida, first started questioning her health in 2022 when she began experiencing stomach issues, though she initially believed she had contracted a worm or virus.
© InstagramThen in February of last year, after she repeatedly vomited blood and began experiencing sensory issues, her fiancé Louis encouraged her to seek medical attention, and shortly after doctors found abnormalities in her large intestine that after emergency surgery were discovered to be cancerous tumors pressing on the large intestine.
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Though she was initially given five years to live, in her last TikTok video, dated March 5, she shared: "My cancer is in my large intestine, my small intestine, my colon, my uterus, my ovaries. Basically the entire lower half of my body is filled up with cancer."
© InstagramThe video was recorded during a vacation to Kyoto, Japan, and in it she detailed how she had not taken a bath in over a year because of her colostomy bag, and "out of fear of making a mess," however where she was staying had "the most beautiful bath that I've ever seen."
She added: "I'm in Japan for a very limited amount of time, and I'm on – I'm here, on Earth for a very limited amount of time, and I don't want to be afraid to take a bath. So come take a bath with me."
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