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Who Was Jessica Pettway? Beauty YouTuber Passes Away From Cervical Cancer At 36
YouTube beauty influencer Jessica Pettway, who had over 16 million views, passed away. She was thirty-six.
Jessica Pettway died from cervical cancer surfaced on March 19, 2024. YouTube was overtaken by Black natural hair influencers in the 2010s. OG content creator Jessica Pettway was one of the movement’s pioneers who contributed to the transformation of the beauty business. She was 37. When Pettway first signed up for YouTube in November 2013, he uploaded about 450 videos and gained over 225,000 subscribers.
Jessica Pettway was a beauty influencer
When Jessica first started her YouTube channel in 2013, her most popular videos were around hair tips, transformations, and trip diaries. She also spent time with her spouse and their two daughters before passing. The content producer talked about how her diagnosis affected her and her four-member family on social media.
Jessica said that she and Michael began dating in 2005, in a 2017 YouTube Q&A session, while they were both teenagers. After Michael had contacted Jessica’s manager to get them in touch, they clicked. After that, the pair dated for six years until Jessica, then 23 years old, married on April 8, 2011. Kai Lee and Zoi Lee, Jessica and Michael’s two daughters, were born during their courtship. Jessica gave birth to her first child, Kai, in 2013 and her second child, Zoi, in 2020. Jessica’s children had influencer-run Instagram accounts and regularly exploited her accounts on social media. She wrote on Instagram about how having her husband and girls helped her to focus on what she believed to be more important and lessen her desire for recognition.
Jessica stated in 2021, “Having a simple life is such a blessing. As I age, I want my life to be more straightforward. I’m not really picky about things. I don’t want to be well-known. Accolades are not important to me. All I need is Jesus and these lovely people in my picture, and I’ll be happy. Making their faces smile. Moments in which we can create. Memories that we create. You can appreciate the beauty of your current situation when you’re not pursuing a dream.”
Jessica had shared on Instagram that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She was initially misdiagnosed with fibroids in July 2023. Before receiving the incorrect diagnosis, Jessica claimed to be “having intense vaginal bleeding.” Her husband “found me in the bathroom unresponsive and not breathing” after she had gone through so much that she “had literally passed away.” After being taken to the hospital, she was informed by her physician that her symptoms were normal and that she had fibroids. Jessica needed ten blood transfusions, and another hospital stay before a biopsy revealed she had cervical cancer.
Many of Jessica’s supporters encouraged her spouse, Michael, to file a lawsuit against her physicians. Though it’s unclear if Jessica or Michael ever sued her doctor, she stayed upbeat and talked about the issue right up to her death. In August 2023, Jessica disclosed that the illness equally impacted her husband and children as she was. She described how their “vows” were tested and how her kids were scared for their mother.
She was misdiagnosed for a long time
She disclosed in an open Instagram post that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer almost nine months before her passing. E! Online reports that her sister Reyni announced on Instagram on Friday. “Today is my birthday, and all I could ever hope for is God to bring you back to life.” Reyni wrote, “I lost my beautiful big sister two days ago, and my heart has never felt pain like this,” beside a picture of the two of them. Reyni recalled her sister as someone “with so much wisdom, prayed for me, and helped me become a better mother.” She also described her sister as “amazing, strong, confident.”
Pettway disclosed that she was initially misdiagnosed with fibroids, which are defined as “common growths of the uterus,” according to the Mayo Clinic, when she went public with her diagnosis in July 2023. “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, hoping that at least one person is encouraged by my story,” wrote Pettaway. The content creator also recalled her symptoms of excessive vaginal bleeding in the post.
“Anytime you’re dealing with an illness, it not only affects you, but it also changes the lives of those closest to you,” Jessica stated. This past year was truly unique. From the several hospitalizations in hospitals. To the burden of debt. We’ve experienced everything! To the financial strain. We’ve been through it all! The girls are too young to understand, yet they noticed the changes.”
Throughout her struggle, Jessica maintained her positive attitude despite the difficult times. She hoped she would overcome the sickness in a July 2023 post, acknowledging that she knew God had the last word. “Being told I have cancer didn’t devastate me,” she stated. “It was how people who were close to me responded. I was confident that God was my healer and that no evil force could ever triumph over me—not even cancer. I was confident that I could overcome this and that I am more than a conqueror.”
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