Beauty YouTuber Jessica Pettway, 36, Dies of Cervical Cancer After Misdiagnosis

Jessica Pettway, a beauty influencer with over 16 million views on YouTube, has died. She was 36.

Her death comes nearly nine months after she revealed that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in a candid Instagram post. Her sister Reyni announced the news on Instagram Friday, per E! Online.

"It's my birthday today, and the only thing I could ever wish for is for God to bring you back on this earth. I lost my beautiful big sister 2 days ago, and my heart has never felt pain like this," wrote Reyni underneath a photo of the two of them, according to the outlet.

The outlet reported that Reyni remembered her sister as "amazing, strong, confident" and someone "with so much wisdom, prayed for me, and helped me become a better mother."

Pettway joined YouTube in November 2013, posting nearly 450 videos and accumulating over 225,000 subscribers.

While going public with her diagnosis in July 2023, Pettway revealed that she had initially been misdiagnosed with fibroids, described as "common growths of the uterus," per the Mayo Clinic.

"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, in hopes that at least one person is encouraged by my story," wrote Pettaway.

The content creator recalled her symptoms first starting after experiencing "intense vaginal bleeding" in June 2022.

Pettway was given the same diagnosis through her hospitalizations between July 2022 and January 2023 until visiting an oncologist in February 2023.

"On Feb. 8th, 2023, he performed an outpatient biopsy on me. When I woke up from the anesthesia, he casually said, 'Yep you have stage 3 cervical cancer.' It turns out, it was not a fibroid, but cancer. I was misdiagnosed all this time," wrote Pettway.

"I remember hearing that and immediately saying to myself, 'I refuse to make an agreement with that diagnosis.' And so I didn't. Being told I have cancer didn't devastate me. It was the reaction of those close to me," she continued.

The social media personality was a mom to 10-year-old Kailee and 3-year-old Zoi Lee, with her husband of 12 years, per Essence.

Pettway described the feeling of watching her loved ones witness her medical journey in an Instagram post that August.

"Anytime you're dealing with an illness, it not only affects you, but it also changes the lives of those closest to you. This year rocked our world. From the countless hospital stays. To the financial strain. We been through it all! The girls are too young to understand, yet they noticed the changes," wrote Pettway.

She expressed that watching her husband break down "was rough" but that they "made a commitment that we would get through this together."

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"We moved forward and did our best not to allow current circumstances to overtake us. It was definitely not easy, but we made it this far," added Pettway.