Canadian doctor Dr. Kimberley Nix, who became famous for documenting her battle with cancer on TikTok, died Wednesday. She was 31 years old.
She announced her own passing in a heartbreaking TikTok video that was released posthumously.
“Hello followers, if you’re seeing this message I have passed away peacefully,” the late social media star announced in the clip, which has amassed over 6.3 million views at the time of writing.
“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.”
The Alberta native 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.”
Fans were devastated over her loss with one writing. “Rest easy Dr. Kim. You truly were a light here,” wrote one.
“Feels like I just got the wind knocked out of me,” said another. “Rest in peace, Kim. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.”
Nix had become famous for documenting her cancer battle on TikTok, amassing nearly 150,000 followers on the platform before she passed. Many of her videos had over a million views.
The physician’s journey began in 2021 when the then 28-year-old Alberta native was diagnosed metastatic sarcoma, a type of soft tissue or bone cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, as she described in her many explainer clips.
Nix — who was in her final year of internal medicine core residency at the time — specifically had undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, which generally usually occurs in the legs, arms, or back of the abdomen, People reported.
This insidious disease has around an 18% five-year survival rate once it has metastasized to other parts of the body.
“Symptoms of sarcoma are so important because there is no screening test,” Nix told People. “My symptom was the most common symptom in soft tissue sarcoma. [Everything was] completely normal — including all my lab values — except for a small, but rapidly growing lump in my left leg.”
The tumor ballooned from the “size of a pea” to the “size of a golfball” in the span of a week, per the courageous patient, who took chemotherapy pills every day for treatment.
Despite the bleak prognosis, Nix managed to maintain a positive outlook on life up until her final days, regularly posting moving clips detailing what she was thankful for.
“I share something I’m grateful for every day,” described the Canadian in one of her last videos before she passed. In it, she could be seen having tea with one of her college pals who traveled from Ontario to Calgary to spend some time with her.
Nix said her ultimate goal was to inspire people to live life to the fullest despite its many hurdles.
“I only have one thing in my life that is tough or hard right now. Yes, it is serious, but [it’s] just one thing,” Dr. Nix told People in April. “Life is so much more. It’s friends, family, pets, your career, the perfect temperature first sip of tea, the beautiful snow-tipped mountains.”
She added, “Seeing the beautiful parts of life each day helps me stay grounded and focused on what’s most important to me, and keep pressing forward with more treatment.”
Dr. Nix is survived by her husband Michael MacIsaac.
