Sydney Towle, a content creator who had a rare form of cancer, died at 26 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md, her family said in a statement on Thursday. She died on Wednesday.

Ms Towle shared her life’s joys and battles with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of metastatic bile duct cancer, on TikTok and Instagram, where she has over 1.2 million followers combined.

“Syd went peacefully last night after an almost three-year-long battle with cholangiocarcinoma,” Austin, Ms Towle’s brother, said in a video message alongside his mother on Thursday.

Despite her cancer diagnosis,  Ms Towle travelled across Europe and posted regular updates about the food, places and people she visited. After having her gall bladder and part of her liver removed, she sought medical approval to go on a solo trip.

Ms Towle’s zest for life while nursing a terminal illness changed people’s perspective on the “beauty of living life in the moment”, stated Melinda Bachini, the chief patient officer of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, in an interview with the New York Times.

Despite satisfying her wanderlust, there were times the Dartmouth graduate posted moments of loneliness, saying dating was a no-go area for her and that casual conversations could be difficult.

“How do you make small talk about what you’ve been up to when what you’ve been up to is going to chemotherapy?” She said in a TikTok video.

Ms Towle was transferred to hospice care earlier in the week to allow her to receive the comfort and care from her family in her last days after the cancer spread across her body.

She was harassed by online critics last year who trolled and cast aspersions on her condition.

“Does something feel off to you about Syd Towle’s cancer story?” a Reddit user posted. We have receipts, medical analysis, fact-checking and discussions,” said another anonymous poster.