Beauty YouTuber Jessica Pettway died suddenly on March 11 following a stage 3 cervical cancer diagnosis. She was 36.
Her sister Reyni Brown confirmed Jessica’s death on Friday, March 15.
“It’s my birthday today, and the only thing I could ever wish for is for God to bring you back on this earth,” Reyni wrote in a post on Instagram alongside a photo of herself and Jessica. “I lost my beautiful big sister 2 days ago and my heart has never felt pain like this.”
Reyni went on to say her sister was “the most amazing, strong, confident” woman she had ever met and filled her life “with so much wisdom, prayed for me, and helped me become a better mother.”
She added, “Life will never be the same without her crazy laugh, pranks, or jokes. Loosing [sic] a sibling feels like a connection between us was destroyed. I love you with all my heart.”
Jessica shared her cancer diagnosis with her 149,000 Instagram followers last July. She said doctors initially misdiagnosed her with uterine fibroids.
Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that grow in the lining of the uterus.
Jessica first noticed abnormally heavy vaginal bleeding in June 2022.
“Last June, I was having intense vaginal bleeding. And when I say intense, I mean I was literally bleeding out,” she wrote in an Instagram post on July 31, 2023. “I called around and asked other women if they experienced this before and majority of them said they have. I thought, well maybe this is a ‘normal’ thing that women go through.”
Jessica continued:
“I was experiencing extreme fatigue, weakness and just not feeling like myself. But again, I accepted this as a ‘normal’ symptom that most women go through.
“Well, on July 1st 2022 at 4am, my husband found me in the bathroom unresponsive and not breathing. I had literally passed away. He called on Jesus to bring me back and I came back. I was rushed to the hospital, where they told me that the extreme blood loss was due to ‘fibroids.'”
When her symptoms worsened, she was correctly diagnosed with cancer of the cervix in February 2023.
“Being told I have cancer didn’t devastate me,” she said in an Instagram post at the time. “It was the reaction of those close to me. I knew that God is my healer and that no weapon formed against me, not even cancer, would prosper. I knew that I am more than a conqueror and that I will get through this.”
According to the American Cancer Society, cervical cancer rates in women ages 30-44 have increased 1.7% each year from 2012 to 2019.
The cervix is the opening to the uterus connected to the vaginal canal.
A Pap smear screening can detect changes in cervix cells that may be cancerous.
The Pap smear test is recommended for women over age 21. It should be repeated every three years. Sexually active women should also get the HPV test if a routine Pap test is abnormal.
