1.9 Million On Instagram Followed Her Cancer Journey. At 14, She's Dead

She was three and a half when she was first diagnosed with cancer. She was eight when she had her first relapse, a rarity for someone of her age. Over the years, she went through multiple treatments, relapsed, underwent bone marrow transplant three times, and was part of three medical trials. Throughout, she taught strangers on the internet how to live life and shared her journey - both the good and the bad parts of it. On Monday, she died of cruel cancer. She was Zuza Beine, a 14-year-old from Wisconsin, America.

"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," Zuza's family posted on the social media platform Instagram.

Coincidentally, in her last video, Zuza captured what she was grateful for, things that many people often take for granted, she had said.

Zuza was grateful to "taste the most delicious foods, do different hairstyles and her relationships and animals."

The family believes that this gratitude is a "testament to a life filled with both beauty and suffering."

"More than anything, she wanted to be a normal, healthy kid. But what made her life so beautiful was how she learned to face the hardest circumstances, like her disease, and still live fully," the family wrote.

Zuza would create "Get Ready With Me (GRWM)" videos for Instagram. She would talk about her daily routine and share treatment updates while demonstrating skincare, makeup, or hairstyles in front of the camera.

Recap Of The Last 2 Weeks

September is observed as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Zuza, a cancer survivor, would regularly share her journey to create awareness about the disease.

In a video posted two weeks ago, Zuza talked about the "hard days", which she described as "real". "Cancer isn't just strength, it's struggle too. And sometimes showing the lows makes someone else feel less alone," she captioned the video featuring pictures from hospital visits, hair loss, skin peel and even her crying.

In one of the clippings, Zuza is heard crying, "I am in so much pain."

The social media posts from the last two weeks reflect how much in pain Zuza was. She was "on morphine constantly" to treat pain.

"I can barely walk right now I'm in so much pain," she captioned a video in which she can be seen crying in agony and medicines not working.

When Zuza Felt "Different"

Zuza was suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a blood cancer, for the past 11 years. During a question-and-answer session on Instagram, when a user asked her about the worst part of having cancer, she said it was "feeling different from other girls my age."

For a teenager, going to school and spending time with friends is normal. But for Zuza, it was all about hospital visits, treatment and trials.

"It is not being able to go to regular school because of my immune system (I don't have any friends that live by me), the fact that I basically had my childhood wiped away from me, the pain and suffering I have gone through, and not being able to feel like a normal teenager," she had responded.

Another user questioned about losing hair to cancer.

"The first time, I was too young to understand why it was happening, so I was confused, but all the other times (I can't even count how many times I've lost my hair), those were very hard for me," Zuza wrote.

Remembering Zuza

Zuza's parents requested her Instagram family of 1.9 million followers to make any donations towards her uncle's wife and children.

"In lieu of flowers, we know Zuza would want any donations to go toward her recently dead uncle's wife and children. You can donate to Lauren Stieber and her family through GoFundMe."