Zuza Beine, a 14-year-old influencer who fought cancer for 11 years, has died, her family announced on Tuesday.
Beine suffered from leukemia for most of her life, and she built a total following of nearly 5 million while chronicling her fight on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
“She lived 11 of her 14 years with a relentless cancer, yet lived more fully and gratefully than most. Her being changed us forever, and her dying will too,” Beine’s family wrote Tuesday in an Instagram post.
Beine, a native of Waukesha, Wis., was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when she was just 3 years old. AML is an aggressive form of cancer which starts in the bone marrow, and is particularly rare in children, according to the American Cancer Society.
During her 11-year fight, Beine underwent three bone marrow transplants and had multiple chemotherapy treatments.
“Zuza was an extraordinary force of nature who refused to let immense physical pain — especially during her final year — diminish her zest for life,” Beine’s mother, Dr. Dagmara Beine, told ABC News.
In her final Instagram post before her death, Beine spotlighted some of life’s little joys, including her friends, her pets and her favorite hairstyles.
“It is no coincidence to us that the last video she made captures what she was grateful for — a testament to a life filled with both beauty and suffering,” her family wrote. “What made her life so beautiful was how she learned to face the hardest circumstances, like her disease, and still live fully.”
