TikToker Maddy Baloywho inspired millions of people by documenting her life with terminal cancer has died aged 26.
“Madison passed away peacefully last night,” her fiancé said. Louis Rishertold People in a statement on Thursday, May 2. “She is so special. I actually turned 27 yesterday. I held her hand all day and that was all I needed.”
Risher added that Baloy was “surrounded by love” when she died.
Baloy began posting and talking regularly on TikTok after her diagnosis People It was a time when she felt “alone and isolated.”
“I knew I had a lot to say,” she added. “Every single emotion while we’re here because we’re not going to be here long.”
In the summer of 2022, Baloy first started having stomach problems, but believed he was suffering from some kind of stomach virus. After repeated dietary changes failed to resolve the problem, she finally saw a doctor in February 2023. At this point she was vomiting blood and experiencing sensory issues.
Doctors performed emergency surgery after discovering “abnormalities” in her colon and later found multiple cancerous tumors pressing against the organ. She was told she had five years to live.
Baloy made it a point to pack as much life into the time she had left as possible. In one of her most viral videos on TikTok, she laid out her wish list that included everything from the meeting Gordon Ramsay to get a tattoo from her grandmother.
As she later showed, Baloy achieved a lot on the list. In a post from February, Baloy and Ramsay were seen dancing, hugging each other a few times and laughing. Ramsay, 57, invited her to dinner in Miami at one of his Hell’s Kitchen locations.
“Thank you for teaching me to dance. It’s the first time ever in a kitchen ❤️,” Ramsay commented under the video.
Baloy also shared posts checking other items off her list, including reaching the summit of Camelback Mountain and writing “something good” – Baloy read a poem she wrote in the desert.
In her last post on March 5, Baloy explained that she had not been able to take a bath in a year due to her colostomy bag. However, she was determined to get another one and found an Airbnb with “the nicest bathroom I’ve ever seen.”
“I hope you can take a thousand baths in your life,” it says at the end of the video. “But in my life, I think this one can do the trick.”