TikToker with Rare Cancer Holds Funeral for Her Amputated Arm: 'It Made the Ultimate Sacrifice on My Behalf'

Mar. 15, 2025

Eldiara Doucette.Photo:Eldiara Doucette

Eldiara Doucette

Since her diagnosis at 19 years old, the social media star has documented her journey with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue cancer that affects only 1,000 people per year. Her illness has returned three times over the years, and this past October, now-22-year-old Doucette underwent an above-elbow amputation of her dominant arm.

Eldiara Doucette after her amputation.Eldiara Doucette

Her videos and photos from the day show the viral content creator in all black, wearing a veil and kneeling beside her arm, which was embalmed and laid out in a bed. Her disembodied fingernails were painted black to match the sleeve-like pocket wrapped around the severed end.

“What started as a joke - holding a service for my amputated arm - ended up being a beautifully cathartic experience,” Doucette captioned acarousel of Instagram photosfrom the day of. She continued to reminisce about her life spent attached to the body part.

“I’ve held many hands, felt the skin of loved ones, picked up spiders to take outside, saved worms off of the sidewalk, wiped away tears, pet dogs and picked many dandelions. I’ve played piano, guitar, ukulele, an act that I’ll never again get to experience,” she recalled, adding, “I always joke that my arm tried to kill me, but after looking at it on the table, seeing the scars it collected over the years, I realized it too was just a victim of this disease, and it made the ultimate sacrifice on my behalf.”

Doucette went on to note how much cancer had taken from her and how the “funeral” helped her process her complicated feelings about losing her arm.

In her pre-funeral reflections, Doucette — who recentlywrote an essay for PEOPLE about practicing “radical acceptance"amid cancer treatment — pondered how she might experience the viewing.

Eldiara Doucette.Eldiara Doucette

“I have very mixed feelings about what this is going to be like,” she told the camera a day prior. “On one hand, this is hilarious. There’s something so comedic about having a funeral for a body part that is not connected to anyone anymore.”

She also anticipated that reuniting with her arm may be a more emotional experience. She wasn’t in a proper state of mind to remember the last time she saw her since-removed body part since she was preparing for the operation.

“[It] feels like there’s going to be a lot of closure in being able to see it one last time before it’s gone forever. I have a feeling that I’m going to shed a few tears, and I also have a feeling that me and my loved ones are going to get a huge kick out of this,” she said.

source: people.com