Spanish influencer Elena Huelva dies age 20 after sending final message to fans who followed her cancer treatment

Lindsay Dodgson
Updated ·2 min read
12

  • Elena Huelva, a 20-year-old Spanish influencer, died on Tuesday, her family said.

  • She was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at the age of 16.

  • She documented her journey on social media, where she gained nearly a million followers.

Elena Huelva, a 20-year-old Spanish influencer, died on Tuesday shortly after sending a final message to her fans.

Huelva, who lived in Seville, was was diagnosed at age 16 with Ewing's sarcoma, a kind of bone cancer. She documented her journey on social media, where she gained nearly a million followers on Instagram and TikTok.

In her final Instagram post on January 3, Huelva wrote that she woke up "not in the best way." She said that her days were getting harder, but that she was staying strong.

"I want you to know that I already won, a long time ago," she wrote in a caption, which Insider translated from Spanish, alongside a photo of her family members holding her hands. "We continue, always."

Huelva's family confirmed that she had died on Tuesday. An Instagram story saying "Elena dances and looks down at you from her star" was shared to her profile, Spanish outlet El Mundo reported.

Huelva was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bones and surrounding tissue, in December 2019. She described it as "a roller coaster" in the caption of an Instagram photo where she was hugging a stuffed animal in a hospital bed. She said a "bad bug" had come into her life and she had to kill it.

"I felt fear, insecurities, I kept asking questions like; Why me? Am I strong enough to kill it?" she wrote. "And a few days after finding out, I used all my strength to defeat it and show it I was stronger."

Since then, Huelva posted regular updates from her hospital trips and treatments. In October, she spoke to ELLE España about raising awareness of her disease, and how her positive outlook kept her going.

After news of her death, fans paid tribute to her in large numbers.

"We owe Elena Huelva a deeply grateful memory for everything she has taught us. I wish I never had to. Cancer is not a battle, but a cause, one in which all powers must put ALL their efforts," one person wrote. "Thank you, Elena."

Nathan Rennolds contributed translation to this report.

Read the original article on Insider