TikTok parenting star Jehane Thomas, whose videos of life with her young sons gained a devoted audience, has died at the age of 30.
Thomas had been plagued by migraines and “bouts of illness” recently, but her death on March 17 “was totally unexpected and we are all absolutely heartbroken,” a friend wrote on her GoFundMe page.
“Her two children, Isaac (3, almost 4), and Elijah (1), have been left without their mum,” Alyx Reast wrote.
Thomas, from Doncaster, England, said she was diagnosed with optic neuritis, in which swelling damages the optic nerve, months earlier.
Her recent TikTok videos documented going in and out of the hospital for migraines and other ailments, and her frustration that she wasn’t getting better.
In her last TikTok on March 15, she wrote of an impending surgery while she lay near-motionless in a hospital bed.
“I can’t lift my head up without wanting to be sick and I’m unable to walk. I need to be wheeled everywhere. That’s how bad this pain is.” She later expressed regret that her sons had “grown up” while she was away.
In her last clip of her with the boys on March 13, Thomas playfully rubbed gel into the hair of Isaac while she held Elijah as Ella Eyre’s “Together” played in the background.
Thomas’ videos about packing lunches and cooking advice for kids branched out into balancing parenthood with her budding printing business.
Yorkshire Live have featured several tributes from friends and viewers.