Crafting YouTuber Melanie Ham, who regularly shared about her life with a cancer diagnosis, passed away on Jan. 12. On her social media platforms, the 36-year-old’s husband, Robert, shared posts in memoriam of his beloved wife. “It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness I share the news of the passing of my sweet, amazing, beautiful wife Melanie,” he wrote on Instagram to her 46,000 fans. “We are short 9 days of our 16 year anniversary. My family, our doctors, our nurses and especially Melanie fought until the end and did all we could do to avoid today, but that is not our path.” He continued in the heartfelt note that she was a “warrior queen” fighting her illness, saying she “loved passionately, created beautifully, provided abundantly” and was his “best friend.” Ham had amassed 810,000 YouTube subscribers prior to her death, but her content wasn’t exclusive to her favorite pastime of knitting, sewing and crocheting. She openly discussed her cancer diagnosis — a type of sarcoma called epithelioid angiomyolipoma — and revealed that she had a tumor. According to Hopkins Medicine, the rare cancer appears in muscles, fat and inside bones. Since creating her YouTube channel in 2011, she amassed more than 71 million total views across her page, with her most popular baby blanket crocheting video receiving nearly 6 million views alone. According to a health update on her personal website posted in October, Ham expressed that her health began steadily declining, despite having surgery with the goal to be tumor-free. “Only 5 weeks after surgery I had new symptoms and after a scan we discovered that the cancer spread and had become very aggressive,” she wrote, adding that she began chemo and needed to quit posting on YouTube for the time being. “We’re just gonna keep fighting.” But the cancer was too aggressive for her to fight off. Messages of condolences flooded the comments sections of Ham’s social media posts, sharing their sadness and support of her family during their grieving. “She was the very reason I started back crocheting. Her videos were so easy to follow and her voice so calm. I’m so saddened to hear about her loss,” wrote one fan. “I will miss her and her videos. Her beauty and kindness came through the camera. I always looked forward to her videos and creations,” said another. A celebration of Ham’s life will be held Jan. 29 in Valencia, California, at a community church, according to her social media, which will also be livestreamed.
