Inside AGT star Nightbirde’s sad last days as she weighed just 85 pounds in ‘brutal’ cancer battle before death at 31
AMERICA’S Got Talent singer Nightbirde opened up about her “brutal” cancer battle just weeks before she passed away at the age of 31.
The artist, whose real name was Jane Marczewski, detailed her experience battling the disease on social media, even revealing that she got down to just 85 pounds at one point.
The entertainer, who passed away on Sunday, became an overnight sensation last year after her incredible AGT audition, with a video of her performance racking up a staggering 30 million views on YouTube.
Nightbirde shocked fans when she announced her exit from the show’s finals on Instagram due to her deteriorating health.
Since then, she’d kept fans updated on her battle with photos and videos on social media.
Her final post on her IG feed was a smiling selfie from early January, where she noted how hard her life had been but tried to remain positive.
“Honestly, things have been pretty brutal,” she wrote in the caption. “But this is a photo of myself from last week where I felt pretty, and alive, and awake, and human, and real.”
She added: “I needed that. We’re all a little lost and it’s alright. #seejanewin #stillgotdreams #nightbirde.”
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In December, the late AGT star shared a black and white photo of herself sitting on a staircase.
Nightbirde had on a small smile and kept her arms wrapped around herself.
She captioned her post: “We are breaking records every second we survive.”
The singer added that it felt like such a “rare miracle… to even be alive” at that point.
A few weeks before, Nightbirde had gone on CNN to give an update on her cancer battle.
While speaking to host Chris Cuomo, she revealed her newest diagnosis at the time and opened up having to choose between continuing to fight or “giving up.”
She said: “I did get a scan result back and a bunch of stuff that was there has now disappeared and a bunch of the really big stuff has gone down in size. We’re on the way.
“It’s a lot to process the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life all happening at the same time and all of this playing out in front of millions of people is really – it’s a lot to carry.
“But it’s also such an honor because the whole world is carrying their own weight and we get to learn how to do this together.”
When Chris mentioned if she felt “comfortable to dream,” Nightbirde opened up: “I think life sometimes is a game of ‘choose your pain’ so the pain of continuing or the pain of giving up.
“So, the pain of continuing there is a lot more uncertainty that way, but I think the pain of giving up is so much worse.”
Earlier in November, she posted two photos of herself with her eyes closed as she still wore a small smile.
She included a lengthy caption, which read: “It’s been a while since I have felt fully awake. Pain can be so surreal and disorienting that I often feel like an observer of my own life, and not a participant of it…”
The star then talked about her “dreams,” which included, “singing to the whole world at once,” but admitted she knew she had to deal with the reality at hand.
She had previously revealed that she’d lost a lot of weight during her cancer battle and had gotten down to just 85 pounds.
Nightbirde posted a photo in cream overalls and a maroon tank top.
She smiled, holding on to an IV pole, and captioned the snap: “Ever seen 85 pounds look so good????”
Back in August, the TV personality announced her exit from the AGT finals because her health had been deteriorating.
While reflecting on her experience on the talent competition show, she said: “It’s so hard for me to not be on the @agt stage for the finals this week.
“I bet you never saw someone win so hard and lose so hard at the same time. This isn’t how the story was supposed to go.”
Nightbirde was given a two percent chance of survival after learning that her cancer had spread to her lungs, spine, and liver.
A source told TMZ that she passed away on Sunday after months of treatment.
Following the tragic news, comedian and AGT judge Howie Mandel said that the singer “was such a bright inspirational light in all our lives. we must continue to live and learn from her words and lyrics.
“As much as I feel horribly about her passing I feel lucky to to have met, heard and known her.”
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