YouTuber and crafter Melanie Ham, who was known for sharing stories about her life and art, has died aged 36. Ham was suffering form cancer and succumbed to the disease on Jan 12, according to posts shared to her social media account which were published by her husband Robert Ham.
Ham's husband shared the tragic news noting that noting that his "sweet, amazing, beautiful wife" tragically died nine days before their 16th anniversary. Ham was suffering for quite some time and didn't post any videos in the final months leading to her death. She posted her last video in April of last year.
Gone too Soon
Ham's death was announced by her husband Robert only on Tuesday although she died on January 12. In a touching posted to her Instagram account, Robert wrote how she fought till the last day.
"It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness I share the news of the passing of my sweet, amazing, beautiful wife Melanie," the caption of the Instagram post reads. "If you've been following our journey I'm sure you were, like us, hopeful she could defeat this insidious disease."
He also praised the nurses, doctors, and his family who helped Ham fight "until the end" of her cancer battle.
"Melanie fought like a warrior queen," he wrote.
Ham's husband called her an "extraordinary woman."
"She can now walk, and sing, and dance in a way her body did not allow over the last few months. She relied on her faith in Jesus all the way to the end and she will always be with me," he wrote. "I'm so immensely grateful for the gifts and messages and especially prayers, thank you."
A Real Influencer
Ham had a strong subscriber base of 810,000 on YouTube even though she didn't post a single video since April of last year. However, her content wasn't always exclusive to her favorite pastime of knitting, sewing and crocheting.
She would also discuss her life stories with her fans and talk about her cancer diagnosis. Ham had 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.
Continuing his tribute, Ham's husband also detailed how loved she was by her family and friends, before encouraging her more than 46,000 Instagram followers to "put up a toast of bourbon" in her honor, since it was her favorite drink.
Ham first shared that she had been diagnosed with epithelioid angiomyolipoma in May 2020. In the update, she shared that the type of cancer is "very, very rare" and that it "behaves differently than a typical cancer which is why it was so unpredictable."
Her most recent health update was posted in October 2021.
Ham created her YouTube channel in 2011, and since then amassed over 71 million total views across her page, with her most popular baby blanket crocheting video receiving nearly 6 million views alone.
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.
