Influencer Zuza Beine dead at 14 after 11-year battle with cancer
Teen influencer Zuza Beine died from cancer on Tuesday, her family said in a TikTok post. She was 14.
Zuza battled leukemia for over a decade, as she chronicled her life and treatments online for millions of fans on Instagram and TikTok.
Her mother Dr. Dagmara Beine, who is an emergency medicine clinician, told ABC News how Zuza never let cancer dull her spirit, even in the throes of intense pain.
"Zuza was an extraordinary force of nature who refused to let immense physical pain -- especially during her final year -- diminish her zest for life. Her empathy ran deep," she said.
Beine noted that surviving Acute Myeloid Leukemia, abbreviated as AML, for so many years "is virtually unprecedented."
"She remained here through sheer force of will, determined to experience everything possible and to demonstrate how one can embrace both joy and suffering simultaneously," Beine said. "She wanted to show healthy children just how fortunate they were to have what she fought so hard to keep."
Zuza's uncle Olaf Stieber -- Beine's younger brother -- also unexpectedly died last week, leaving behind a wife and two young children.
"Losing her uncle just one week before her own passing devastated her. Even in her grief, all she could think about was supporting her aunt, caring for those children, and being the devoted older sister she'd always been," Beine said.
In announcing Zuza's death on Tuesday, her family penned a heartfelt tribute that paid homage to the teen's resilience and love for life.
"It is with broken hearts that we share that Zuza died yesterday morning. 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," the post reads. "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."
Zuza was first diagnosed with AML when she was 3 years old, according to her Instagram bio.
AML is an aggressive form of cancer that causes the proliferation of abnormal blood cells in the bone marrow, leading the body to experience intense bouts of fatigue, weakness and bruising, according to the American Cancer Society.
In her last video, Zuza recounted the many things that brought her joy in the midst of her battle with cancer, including her friends, her pets and trying out different hair styles.
Zuza often posted about these topics as a member of a TikTok's content creation group called the Glow House, which features videos from young women who "glow from inside out," according to their TikTok page.
Zuza's family asked for her supporters to donate to a GoFundMe supporting the family of her recently deceased uncle.
