money Woman who documented her battle with skin cancer on TikTok dies aged 27
A Tik Tok influencer whose battle with skin cancer inspired many on social media has died, according to a message posted by her sister.
Kassidy Pierson, from Minnesota, was diagnosed with cancer six years ago, and had been documenting her experiences with the disease on social media.
Going by the username @ohhkayypee on TikTok, where she had more than 200,000 followers, Ms Pierson gave glimpses into her life with melanoma, posting clips about everything from her tumours to the impact of her illness on her son and her choice to go into hospice care.
When Ms Pierson was 21, she was diagnosed with melanoma following a biopsy of a mole on her thigh. She had noticed the mole was changing in her late teens but didn’t have it examined until she was 21, at which point she was diagnosed with stage three cancer.
In August, at the request of many of her followers, she shared a photo of the cancerous mole and urged TikTokers to get their skin checked every year.
“Six and a half years later [...] I’m now terminally ill and on hospice,” Ms Pierson said in the video. “So please go get your skin checked at least yearly. If you see something suspicious, go get it checked sooner.”
Her video has since been viewed more than 1.5m times, with many commenting that they had gone to have their skin examined as a result of her post.
Ms Pierson posted a final video on August 25. She said she was enjoying the weather and hoping for a good day, having suffered a recent bout of nausea and lethargy. She told followers she wouldn’t be posting daily anymore as her illness had made it unrealistic.
In fact she didn’t post again, and the next video uploaded to her account was on September 9, from her older sister Kasey Metzger, breaking the news that Ms Pierson had died.
In the clip Ms Metzger said that Ms Pierson had not been in pain and was with her fiancé when she passed.
“I can’t tell you the amount of times that she would just break down crying because she couldn’t believe how many people just loved her from this platform,” she said. “Thank you so much for all that you’ve done for her.”
She captioned the clip with a reminder that echoed the many messages her sister had posted: “Get your skin checked.”
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