Cheyann Shaw, Fitness Guru, Dead at 27

Fitness influencer Cheyann Shaw has died following her battle with ovarian cancer. Shaw, who competed in bodybuilding competitions and documented her cancer battle on Instagram, passed away after being hospitalized in December due to complications affecting her liver and stomach. She was 27. Her death was confirmed Monday in a statement shared with her 220,000 Instagram followers.

Alongside a smiling photo of Shaw, a caption was shared reading, “with heavy hearts, we are sad to announce that our beautiful girl Cheyann has been called home to heaven.” The statement went on to thank Shaw’s followers for their “support and encouragement over the years.” It added that “if there’s one thing Cheyann taught us is that no matter what battles we face, we can always find a reason to smile through them.”

“My heart is breaking today, our baby girl lost her long battle with ovarian cancer,” Shaw’s mother, Darci Clark, wrote in a statement of her own. “She fought until the bitter end. She is a true warrior and survivor. She will be truly missed and will forever be in my heart.”

Shaw had been diagnosed with stage 4b low grade serous ovarian cancer in August 2016 at the age of 23. Revealing her diagnosis at the time, the influencer said she was “diagnosed by an accident but that accident, saved my life.” While she had “every symptom of OVCA,” she said she “didn’t know OVCA was even a thing.” Speaking with PEOPLE that December, she told the outlet when she “was first diagnosed, I was scared, but it went away quickly. I knew that I had no choice but to fight. I wasn’t going to let cancer win.”

Shaw immediately began chemotherapy, and in October 2016, she underwent a five-and-a-half-hour surgery, during which doctors removed her spleen, appendix, part of her colon, and performed a full hysterectomy. A year later, Shaw announced that doctors had found “no evidence” of cancer in her body. However, Shaw revealed on Jan. 15, 2020, that her cancer had returned, writing, “Sadly, there is cancer in 4 of my lymph nodes.”

In the months following that announcement, Shaw continued to document her battle. Her last update came on Dec. 23, when shared a photo of herself from her hospital bed. She said that she had been “in and out of the hospital with a liver issue that has been fixed and now I’m on a feeding tube which is totally okay.”

The fitness influencer is survived by her husband, Kaleb Shaw, who mourned her death on social media Monday, writing, “my heart is broken. I can’t imagine my life without her.” Kaleb added, “I know she is in a better place away from the pain and suffering that comes with dealing with cancer” and remembered Shaw as his “hero, best friend and inspired not only myself, but thousands of people around the world.”