Jessica Pettway, a prominent beauty, fashion and lifestyle YouTube influencer, died on March 11 at the age of 36 after being diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer. Her death came about nine months after she shared her diagnosis of cancer with her followers. The mother-of-two said she was initially misdiagnosed with fibroids – usually benign uterine tumors – before finding out in February 2023 that the tumors were malignant.
“It gives me so much joy to see how far I have come because a few months ago I received some devastating news,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. I don’t even know where to start, but I want to share why I’ve been away for so long, in the hopes that at least one person will be encouraged by my story.
Pettway said that in June 2022, she began experiencing intense vaginal bleeding and extreme fatigue, which she considered “a ‘normal’ thing that women go through.” But the following month, her husband noticed her unresponsive and not breathing in their bathroom.
Pettway said she was rushed to the hospital, where she was told the blood loss was due to fibroids, which develop in more than 80% of African Americans women at age 50. Her gynecologist, Pettway said, made her condition appear normal, despite Pettway having to stay overnight due to the size of the blood clots she was experiencing. Later that month, Pettway was hospitalized for the same problem, but again, she said, “the medical professionals treated it as if it wasn’t that alarming since it was just a ‘fibroid’.”
Pettway’s symptoms worsened and she was readmitted to hospital in January 2023. She said doctors told her she couldn’t have surgery to remove her suspected fibroids because of her low blood supply. During her hospital stay, she received ten blood transfusions.
Finally, Pettway said an oncologist performed an outpatient biopsy in February 2023 and diagnosed him with stage 3 cervical cancer.
“It turned out it wasn’t a fibroid, it was cancer,” she wrote. “I was misdiagnosed all this time.”
However, according to Pettway, the diagnosis wasn’t the hardest part.
“Being told I have cancer didn’t break my heart,” she wrote. “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.”
After receiving her diagnosis, Pettway wrote that she “refused to come to terms with that diagnosis.” She had had almost twenty blood injections, but April 13, she wrote, was the last time she was back in the hospital.
“Every time I felt my faith being attacked, I could hear God reminding me to LIVE,” she said. “And that’s exactly what I do. I live because the One who gave life abundantly lives in me.”
According to the CDC, 58% of non-Hispanic black women diagnosed with cervical cancer at an earlier stage live for five years or more. Hispanic, Indigenous and Black women do higher rates of new cervical cancer in the US, compared to women of other races. The National Cancer Institute says the survival rate for all people with cervical cancer is about 67%. Apart from unusual vaginal bleeding, usually early cervical cancer has no symptoms.
Pettway joined YouTube more than a decade ago in November 2013. Her account, where she shared beauty videos and some details about her personal life, had almost 230,000 subscribers.