2024-07-16 10:45:02
She “left her legacy here on earth to dance on streets of gold,” her mother posted on Instagram.
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A young Saskatchewan girl who captured the hearts and attention of people around the world through social media “left her legacy here on earth,” says her mother, Kyla Thomson.
Bella Thomson, the 10-year-old girl from Swift Current known on TikTok as Bella Brave, died Sunday after a life-long battle with multiple rare health conditions.
Bella was born with Hirschsprung’s disease, which affects the large intestine, and later diagnosed as well with dwarfism and a severe combined immunodeficiency.
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“Bella died peacefully in our arms,” Kyla wrote on Instagram.
“Please keep her name on your lips, her memories alive and her bravery in your hearts.”
Bella’s social media presence started as a Facebook page to keep family and friends aware and up to date on her health problems. It was also meant to showcase her personality beyond just her medical struggles.
She also wanted to educate people, Kyla said; Bella’s conditions were so rare, she didn’t want her daughter to have to explain herself over and over again when she was out in the world.
The more Kyla and husband Lyle shared on Facebook, and then TikTok, the more uplifting messages they received in response. They felt it was an opportunity to help and inspire others facing similar challenges.
The Bella Brave TikTok account has more than seven million followers.
Together, Lyle and Kyla came up with the Bella Brave nickname. They shared videos of her in hospital rooms and receiving treatment and care, but also uplifting videos of her around their home, goofing around, being a kid alongside her brother Waylon, dancing and singing pop songs.
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Her positivity and messaging touched people far and wide, including multiple celebrities. She received a care package from pop superstar Halsey; Ryan Reynolds and Lizzo interacted online; hockey legend and Saskatchewan native Hayley Wickenheiser reached out.
“It all started with Bella and I having fun,” Kyla said in an interview last year. “I didn’t want to share my fear with her. I wanted her to remain confident. It helped me learn her bravery.”
The three medical disorders Bella faced were rare individually, let alone for one person. With Hirschsprung’s disease, discovered immediately after a normal pregnancy, the intestine lacks the nerves required to move digested food along.
Bella was unable to pass stool, and was vomiting so badly she needed surgery at three days old. That was the first of more than 30 surgeries in her lifetime, as she and her family regularly spent weeks and months in hospitals in Saskatoon, Calgary and Toronto.
She was also diagnosed with a form of dwarfism, and underwent surgeries because of structural development problems in her right hand. It eventually became clear that Bella also effectively had no immune system.
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Last summer, she underwent a life-saving bowel transplant and spent months in hospital recovering. In recent weeks, however, she was back in Saskatoon hospital and was later flown to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.
Last week, doctors told the family there had been a rapid deterioration of her lungs, the family said. Bella was placed in a medically-induced coma.
Kyla said on Instagram that she and Lyle “braced for hard news and sobbed as it hit us.” She said the “best of the best” doctors “were telling us it looked really bad.”
On Sunday at 4:19 p.m., she “left her legacy here on earth to dance on streets of gold,” Kyla wrote.
“Bella would want you to remember: God is love, be brave and you are never too old to bring a stuffy.”
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