Kaelin Bradshaw, an influencer who documented her battle with a rare form of bile duct cancer, has passed away. She was 29.
The late social media star’s husband, Austin, announced the shocking news in an update to her TikTok account on Wednesday. He confirmed that she died on Monday, Oct. 27.
“From the moment Kaelin was diagnosed, she was devastated, but also determined,” Kaelin’s husband said. “She promised me and our family she was going to fight and never give up.”
“She fulfilled her promise, but unfortunately, her disease progressed beyond her body’s ability to keep fighting,” he added.
Austin went on to reveal that Kaelin passed away while holding his hand around 1 a.m. Monday.
“She was not in pain, and her room was surrounded by the love and compassion of our entire family,” he shared. “She was not alone, nor was she ever alone throughout this entire journey.”
“Her family and I were next to her at all times, behind the camera, in ears reach,” Austin added.
Kaelin’s father, Mark, confirmed his daughter’s devastating passing in an emotional social media video of his own on Monday.
“It is with a heavy heart, we lost our beloved angel today,” he captioned an Instagram video that included several sweet snaps of Kaelin. “Thank you for the love, prayers and support that everyone has shown our family, it means more now than ever.”
“Kaelin- Your light touched so many people , and your memory will forever shine in our hearts,” he added. “Rest in peace my love you will be dearly missed.”
The TikTok star’s final video on the platform was shared Oct. 16. She directed her nearly 100,000 followers to a GoFundMe page that was initially set up to help her and her husband “with whatever the future brings.”
“He’s stayed with me every single night I’ve been in the hospital and somehow managed to juggle two jobs on top of that,” Kaelin wrote of her husband in the caption of her last-ever video. “He even sold his truck and boat just to help ease the financial pressure on both of us.”
“I really want to take some of that stress off his shoulders so he can focus on just being here with me,” she continued. “We’re also hoping to take a trip together as soon as I get the green light to start my next treatment, and we’d love to be financially ready when that time comes.”
Kaelin confirmed that she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma in the GoFundMe page she and her husband created earlier this month.
Cholangiocarcinoma is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts that carry the digestive fluid bile, per the Mayo Clinic. It reportedly occurs most often in individuals older than age 50 and is often diagnosed when it’s advanced, making a successful treatment difficult.
The influencer said that she was “currently in hospice care” but “still fighting” while “holding on to hope and to each other.”
“This isn’t something I ever thought I’d have to write, but life has a way of throwing the hardest things at us when we least expect it,” Kaelin wrote.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your love, support, and kindness during the hardest chapter of our lives,” she concluded her GoFundMe message.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
