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Tanner Martin gained nearly half a million followers while documenting his battle with colon cancer on Instagram and TikTok.
Supporters flooded his comments section with congratulations when Tanner welcomed his first child nearly six weeks ago.
Now, the same community is mourning the passing of the inspirational 30-year-old.
Tanner Martin announces his own death in heartbreaking video
The Utah native maintained a lighthearted tone as often as possible in his videos, and his final clip was no exception.
Tanner announced his own death in a pre-recorded, focusing, as he always did, on the joys in his life rather than the sorrows.
“Hey, it’s me, Tanner, if you’re watching this, I am dead,” Martin said with a laugh.
After offering some practical instructions to his wife and creative partner, Shay Martin, Tanner zoomed out to look at the big picture:
“I had a heck of a life. I decided to make this video announcing my death because I saw someone did that, like, a year or so ago, and I think it’s a good opportunity to get all your thoughts out and also you can be thoughtful about what your partner or spouse might need and she probably needs some time to grieve,” he said, adding:
“Life was awesome. I really enjoyed it while I was here. Hopefully, I believe there’s something after this and I’m excited to meet those people, and hopefully we’re hanging out now and making fun of all you nerds.”
Fans found inspiration amid the tragedy of Tanner and Shay’s story
Tanner and Shay became wildly popular figures on social media over a relatively short period of time.
A GoFundMe page set up for the couple has already raised nearly half a million dollars toward its goal of $780,000.
“Diagnosed so young, he didn’t have life insurance and knew that time was short,” the page explains.
“In one of his final messages, he said, ‘I just want to know that Jiaozi (his new baby daughter, AmyLou’s nickname) and Shay will be okay.’
“With the time he had left, his heart was focused on their future—providing for his baby girl’s dreams, college, or wedding, and making sure his wife wasn’t left to carry it all alone.”
Our thoughts go out to Shay, AmyLou, and the rest of Tanner’s loved ones during this enormously difficult time.