TikToker Kimberly Nix dies aged 31
Canada-based influencer Dr Kimberly Nix has died three years after being diagnosed with metastatic sarcoma.
Dr Nix was known for documenting her journey with cancer on Instagram and TikTok. Her final video was posted to her social media accounts on Wednesday 8 May to announce that she had died. “My journey here is over and I can’t thank each and every one of you enough! You have all made me so happy and your comments and support are more than enough to have gotten anyone through anything!” the caption read. “If you wish, please donate through my link in bio to sarcoma cancer research and follow my husband in his updates.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, sarcoma is a broad group of cancers that begin in the bones and soft tissues - including muscle, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and tendons. It becomes metastatic when the cancer spreads too vastly from the original site and reaches stage 4.
In her final video, which lasted nine minutes, Dr Nix was seen sitting on her bathroom floor as she filmed a “get ready with me” video.
“Hello followers, if you’re seeing this message I have passed away peacefully,” she began in the TikTok. “For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kim, hi! It’s so nice to meet you and you’re welcome to check out all the cool sarcoma facts, information, and my lived experience with death and dying with sarcoma cancer. You don’t have to go just because you’re new.”
She continued: “I love you all, thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. I’m in happy tears because you’ve all made me find so much purpose in the end of my life.”
As she applied her makeup in the video, Dr Nix reflected on what she was able to accomplish throughout her life - including seeing Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Nix was also able to make numerous strides with her education, as she was 28 years old and in her third and final year of her internal medicine core residency when she was diagnosed.
“I had a beautiful life,” she told her viewers. “And I’m so proud of it.”
Dr Nix began to tear up halfway through the video, thinking about how she is leaving her husband and called him the “love of her life”.
“The most beautiful love and my only sadness in dying is knowing that we didn’t get to grow old together,” she said in the video. “Everything else is totally bearable, because that is the only thing that really matters.”
The clip ended as she encouraged her viewers to donate to the Sarcoma Alliance, a charity dedicated to “improving the lives of people affected by sarcoma through accurate diagnosis, improved access to care, guidance, education, and support,” according to its website.
“I just can’t thank you all enough for being so supportive for your comments, for cheering me on, for helping us feel not alone in this process. This community has meant the absolute world to me and I can’t thank you enough,” she concluded the video.
“I will miss you, TikTok. I love you all, thank you for this amazing, amazing opportunity. I am in happy tears because you have all made me find so much purpose in the end of my life and I can’t thank you enough. Thank you from the bottom of my heart always,” Dr Nix said.