World enews: Mother, 30, who documented cancer battle on TikTok dies

Haley Odlozil, who’s been documenting her battler with cancer on TikTok, has died at the age of 30.

Haley’s husband, Taylor Odlozil, shared the news of her death on his social media accounts on Friday. Prior to this announcement, Taylor had been documenting Haley’s battle with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer on his TikTok account, where he has more than 2.6m followers.

“It is with unbelievable sadness that I tell all of you my sweet Haley has passed away. I cannot begin to describe the amount of heart ache & grief myself & our entire family is experiencing,” he wrote in the caption of his post, which featured a photo of him, Haley, and their four-year-old son, Weston.

“Her love for me, Weston, her family, & her friends is what has kept her going for so many years, especially the last 8 months,” he added.

He noted that he was “grateful” for his 16-year relationship with Haley, and the “happy and sad” lessons he’s learned throughout it. He proceed to reflect on her eight-year battle with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer, which can occur “in one or both ovaries or fallopian tubes’’ or when “there is primary peritoneal cancer [that] has spread or grown into organs outside the pelvis,” according to the American Cancer Society.

“One thing I can tell you, she suffered greatly fighting this disease that slowly tore her body apart for the last eight years,” he wrote. “The thought of her being completely healed in a body with no pain & no scars in heaven makes me so incredibly happy for her but so overwhelmingly sad I’m not there to see it. My fear of death is so much less knowing I will get to see her one day completely healed. I cannot wait for that day.”

After acknowledging how “thankful” he was to see “Haley fulfil her life purpose of becoming a mom”, he spoke candidly about his son’s grief. He also emphasised that he loves his wife and “can’t wait to see [her] again” someday.

“My heart breaks most for Weston. I don’t think he will ever fully understand what he meant to Haley. He was everything to her,” he continued. “I love you Haley. More than I can put into words. You are a part of who I am and I will never stop loving you. I can’t wait to see you again.”

Taylor concluded his post by thanking his family and followers on social media for their support. He noted that since sharing Haley’s story, he’s “received emails & messages from people from just about every country”. He then expressed how “proud” he was of his wife for being so honest about her cancer.

“She has changed so many people & brought awareness to this terrible disease. I’m so proud of that. She always said she didn’t want her suffering to be wasted,” he added. “Haley wanted people to learn from her. I would say she accomplished that!”

He explained that due to Haley’s “large following” he wouldn’t be publicly sharing any funeral plans. He also added that he’ll be taking a “break from social media for a while,” in order to take “some time to process with [his] son”.

In the comments of his post on TikTok, which has more than 35m views, people left messages of condolences for Taylor. They also expressed how they were so inspired by Haley, after watching all the TikTok videos about her cancer battle.

“I am so very sorry. My heart is broken for someone I have never met but have so much respect and admiration for. Thinking of you all today,” one wrote.

“Oh no I come and check this page every day to see her fighting to live and my heart dropped when I saw this post. Rest in peace,” another added.

“My heart is broken for you,” a third wrote. “Fly with the angels, beautiful Haley. You all are in my prayers.”

As noted by the American Cancer Society, “ovarian cancer stages range from stage I through IV”, with the higher number meaning that the cancer has spread more. During Stage IIIC, which is the kind that Haley had, the “deposits of cancer are larger than two cm across and may be on the outside of the liver or spleen”. This stage also occurs when “the cancer may or may not have spread to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes”. However, the cancer “has not spread to the inside of the liver or spleen or to distant sites”.

The news of Haley’s death came after Taylor had shared a video of her on TikTok earlier this month. As he noted in the caption the she was “still fighting”, the footage went on to show Haley looking at the book that her hospice nurse, Marice, had made for Weston.

“As hard as it is with what we are going through as a family, it warms my heart to see people rise to the occasion to do an act of kindness for someone else,” Taylor wrote in the caption. “We are so grateful to have this book.”

The Independent has contacted Taylor for comment.