TikTok star Stacey Pentland has died of lymphoma after a brave public battle, leaving behind a husband and four young children. She was 37.
The unlikely social media sensation from Newcastle, England, passed away last Thursday — 19 months after she was diagnosed with the terminal cancer.
Her death has been confirmed in a now-viral post shared to her account by her family: “It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that our beautiful Stacey passed away at 20 to 2. Can I ask you to respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.”
The young mom set up her TikTok account in April 2020, shortly after she learned the devastating health news.
Pentland began sharing short videos documenting her often harrowing treatment, and quickly amassed more than 200,000 followers and 5.5 million-plus likes. She also uploaded clips discussing her husband, Anthony, and her four children, Chloe, Sophie, Geordie and AJ.
Throughout her year and a half on the video streaming platform known for dangerous stunts and wacky challenges, Pentland set herself apart by creating a calm sense of community for fellow fighters. Many of her followers revealed they, too, were going through cancer treatments, and told Pentland how her videos made them feel less alone in the heart-tugging comments section.
Fans flocked to the comments section to express their sadness upon hearing of her death, saying they’d grown close to Pentland after following her story for more than a year and a half.
“These videos each day will be sadly missed. No more pain, anxiety and suffering for the beautiful woman I never met, but feel like I knew,” one wrote.
“I didn’t even know her, but I am going to miss her,” another stated.
“Anyone else absolutely crying their eyes out? I didn’t personally know Stacey but adored her. RIP what an angel heaven has gained xx,” another concurred.
Pentland’s last video was recorded just three days before her death, and showed her struggling to breathe.
In the clip, she claimed she had crawled up the stairs of her home to reach her bed after making toast for her beloved husband.
Earlier this year, Pentland spoke with Chronicle Live about her cancer battle.
“I never in a million years thought this would happen to me, but it can happen to anybody,” she stated.
“I started it because I felt unbelievably alone when I was diagnosed and I didn’t want anybody else to feel that way. Now I’ve had thousands of messages of support, people saying ‘because of you I went to the doctor, they found my cancer early.'”
She also discussed her unlikely online fame, saying: “I knew nothing about cancer, and so I wanted to raise awareness to others, and that’s when I started my daily video diaries on Tik Tok. Everything started to blow up on social media and as a family we’ve had an unbelievable amount of support.”