‘Supernatural’ and ‘The Ranch’ Actor Jim Beaver Reveals His Niece, 18, Died on Christmas Day: ‘Her Spirit Was Ferocious’

The Ranch star Jim Beaver revealed in a heartbreaking social media message that his 18-year-old niece, Kira Stanley, died on Christmas Day following a years-long battle with cancer. Stanley was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare brain cancer, in 2017, with Beaver sharing updates along the way and asking for help in offsetting her caretaking costs.

Beaver, 69, wrote about Stanley in a series of elegant, heartbreaking tweets on Christmas. “My treasured niece Kira died this Christmas morning. She was 18,” the Supernatural star began. “She was one of the bravest and most poised people I have ever met, and her spirit was ferocious and loving and filled with grace.”

“Her parents Wendy and Robert, her sister Zane, and her devoted boyfriend Evan matched her step for step in courage. To all of my friends who took part in Kira’s terrible and miraculous fight by contributing to the funding of her immense medical expenses or by sending prayers, gifts, and letters, or by simply holding her in your hearts, I will be indebted forever,” Beaver wrote. “Kira lived far longer than most DIPG patients, and that happened in part because of the outpouring of support she had, often from people she’d never met.”

“Love and gratitude spill in a flood from my broken heart,” he concluded.

Beaver also shared a photo of Stanley on the beach.

On New Year’s Day, Beaver returned to Twitter to share his gratitude for those who reached out to him in the wake of Stanley’s passing. “I have tried to read the tens of thousands of messages of comfort and condolence I’ve received this past week. I’m afraid replying to each of them is beyond my capacity. Please know that I and my family are lifted up by your kindness and generosity and are forever grateful,” he tweeted.

On Stanley’s GoFundMe campaign page, her father Robert wrote that “Kira passed at 1:30am peacefully and without suffering, even smiling in the end (or the beginning depending upon your beliefs). In hindsight, she had been preparing us since early December when she felt her body starting to fade.”

He wrote that the family will have a part and surfer “paddle out” at Moonlight Beach in Encintas, California, during the weekend of Jan. 17 with details to be announced.

Stanley was also a Billie Eilish superfan, with Eilish posting a tribute to the teenager upon learning of her death. “F—. I don’t understand why is this all happening. I hate this,” Eilish, 18, wrote on her Instagram Story shortly after paying tribute to another one of her superfans who passed away suddenly, Skylar Davies, 19.

“I don’t know how I’m only finding out now you’re not here anymore,” Eilish continued in Stanley’s tribute, which was a photo of Stanley giving her a hug. “I love you so much Kira. Please fly high. Rest in peace.”

Eilish later shared two additional photos of her and Stanley, each with the captioned, “I want to scream.”

Stanley’s death came nearly two months after Beaver revealed that his mother, Dorothy Adell Crawford Beaver, had died at 91 years old. He wrote at the time that he “will always be grateful for the honor of being her only son.”

Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Staff / Getty