A mum who died from bowel cancer and documented her honest battle with the illness shared a tragic final post before it was confirmed she had died in palliative care.
Krystal Maeyke had described herself as ‘fit’ and ‘healthy’ prior to her shocking and tragic diagnosis, but died on 5 July 2025 at the age of 39.
It came around two years after she said that she first noticed that something felt off about her health.
After her diagnosis of Stage 4 Terminal Metastatic Bowel Cancer, she used her cancer to help raise awareness of the condition, and opened up about how she feared leaving her son to grow up without a mother.
Krystal shared her journey with followers (TikTok/@stoneinthe0cean)
Krystal, from Australia, who had been ‘exercising daily and eating a wholesome, balanced diet’ had previously shared some of the symptoms she hadn’t realised were linked to her cancer for around three months prior to her being diagnosed.
This included feelings of being ‘tired all day, everyday’, putting it down instead to being a ‘busy mum’ who was juggling a lot of things in her life, as well as assuming that troubles with going to the toilet had been due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Mum moved to palliative care amid cancer battle
She documented her journey on her TikTok page with over 50,000 followers, before it was announced by her family that she had died days after being moved into palliative care.
A comment beneath her final video on 4 July last year read: “I’m one of Krystal’s best friends. She’s given me permission to come onto her account and give you all an update.
“Krystal is currently in palliative care and fighting her hardest. Unfortunately, things are not looking good at this stage but our beautiful Krystal is such a strong woman.”
Krystal was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2023 (TikTok/@stoneinthe0cean)
The following day, her page then announced that she had succumbed to the cancer, with a video showing her surrounded by loved ones.
“Krystal’s journey was always about showing all sides of her cancer experience the joy, the fight, the laughter and the raw reality,” an update read.
“We believe she would want us to continue sharing her story honestly, to raise awareness and to show her community what it really looks like to live — and love — through terminal cancer.
“This video honours her light, her truth and her courage. Through the smiles and through the struggle, Krystal kept showing up. And so will we.”
Tragic final post shared months before death
The final post shared by Krystal on her page was posted in April, around three months before it was announced she had died.
It was a moving carousel of pictures showing her cutting hair during treatment for the cancer which made her hair thin and fall out.
Titled: “The stages of my hair falling out from chemotherapy”, Krystal shared photographs of her holding clumps of her hair along with selfies in the build up to her shaving her head.
Chemotherapy causes hair loss because the drugs are designed to target and destroy rapidly dividing cells, which is the main feature of cancer cells.
Signs of bowel cancer
According to the NHS, bowel cancer is cancer found anywhere in the large bowel, which includes the colon and rectum and is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK.
It accounts for around 12 per cent of all new cancer cases, with around 48,200 to 49,300 new cases diagnosed every year.
Symptoms of bowel cancer may include changes in your poo, needing to poo more or less often than is usual, blood in your poo, and bleeding from the bottom.
They also include tummy pain, bloating, a lump in the tummy, tiredness and losing weight without trying.
Bowel cancer accounts for 12 percent of new cancer cases (LADbible)
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
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