14 DAY TRIAL // Talia Joy Castellano, honorary CoverGirl and YouTube star but, above all, a 13-year-old girl dreaming to become a makeup artist while fighting a very aggressive and rare form of cancer, has died.
Castellano, whose makeup tutorials earned her millions of views, which, in turn, earned her the honorary inclusion among CoverGirl spokespersons, was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, when she was just 7 years old.
As of April, she’d been in hospital for radiation therapy. Her condition worsened progressively, as her mother Desiree documented on the Facebook page Angels for Talia.
The other day, she “earned her wings.”
“#prayfortalia It is with a heavy heart that we share with all of you that Talia has earned her wings at 11:22am. Please lift her beautiful soul, her beautiful light to heaven and please send your love and prayers to her family during this most difficult time,” an update on the Facebook page reads.
“God speed little one, may you be free from pain and suffering, may your soul feel the light and love that you brought to so many of us on this Earth during the short time you were her with us. We will miss you more than you will ever know baby girl,” the statement adds.
CoverGirl and talk show Ellen DeGeneres both issued statements to express their condolences to the family, who vow to keep Talia’s legacy alive whichever way they can.
Shine Yahoo! reports that Talia was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma. After the first round of treatment, it went into remission but returned one year later, when doctors also diagnosed the little girl with leukemia.
“Intensive medical intervention failed to arrest her condition and in late April, she was admitted to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando, Florida for tests and radiation therapy and was later moved to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children,” the e-zine says.
Talia never lost her spark, often saying in interviews that the cancer diagnosis had been a “gift” because it opened her life to new experiences but, at the same time, a “horrible, horrible, terrifying thing.”
Below is a video of her first meeting with Ellen DeGeneres in late 2012.
