Dutch influencer Jade Kops (19) went suddenly; she committed herself to other cancer sufferers.
Jade Kops, of the Instagram account mijnlevenmetkanker_, died after a protracted illness. Kops spoke on social media about her life and how she dealt with the disease. “She was 19 years old.”The kindness, bravery, and transparency of her tale left an unforgettable imprint on her hundreds of thousands of followers,” the family adds. Kops died early this morning in the midst of her family.
The funeral and goodbye will take held privately. “Those who wish to pay their final respects to Jade have the chance to join the guard of honour that will be created following her departure.”That will happen on May 1,” the family said.
Kops, a 14-year-old girl from’s-Gravenzande, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare kind of cancer that affects the carotid artery in her throat, almost four and a half years ago. That is a cancerous tumour in the muscles.
That diagnosis flipped her world upside down. She assumed she was simply visiting the doctor with some complaints: she had been speaking unclearly for weeks, had a peculiar tone in her voice, and had been snoring quite loudly for days. It quickly became evident that something was badly wrong.
Hundreds of chemotherapy treatments
On her blog, she chronicled her long and difficult treatment process. “Chemotherapy and a 14-year-old girl don’t mix well. But I’m taking it head on,” she wrote. “And privately, with a great deal of terror. I don’t know what to anticipate, so I’m simply letting things unfold.”
It was a difficult year, she recalls on her Instagram account, which she created afterward. During her first year, she received nine rounds of chemotherapy, 28 radiation treatments, and maintenance therapy at the Princess Máxima clinic, the Dutch paediatric cancer clinic in Utrecht.
Despite all the intense and sad moments, it has fortunately also brought me beautiful things. I have experienced moments I would never have experienced otherwise and made friendships that would never have come about. I am proud and very grateful for that!
“Incurably ill and yet positive” was her motto. She also wrote a book about it.
In September 2024, NOS Stories spoke with Jade about her life and her incurable disease:
After a year and a half of treatment, Jade received the flower bead, symbolic of the end of her treatment and a reason to celebrate with a small party with her family, psychologist, and doctors.
A day later, it turned out that the tumor had returned after all. Jade’s second treatment plan was started. The chemotherapy was effective, and the tumor gradually began to shrink.
Best friends
Despite her cancer, Jade tried to enjoy every moment, she said repeatedly, especially the little things. “The big dot on the horizon (being cured) for which I gave everything has turned into small dots on the horizon,” she wrote.
In September 2023, a cycling peloton from Westland raised 21,000 euros for Jade to help her family financially. In the same year, she was one of four finalists for the girls’ magazine’s Tina Awards in the Girlpower category . The winner was singer Emma Kok (17). She suffers from gastroparesis, a chronic stomach paralysis that causes her stomach to function poorly.
In a later interview on Pauw & de Wit, the two teenagers sat across from each other. By then, they had become best friends. They said that their illnesses connected them, even though they had different types of diseases. “Emma is also a kind of fellow sufferer,” said Jade. “You understand each other: receiving tube feeding, not being able to go to school, not being able to participate in everyday activities.”
Emma created a song in tribute to Jade:
Jade learned in August 2024 that her tumour had progressed and she would not be able to recover. She soon launched a fundraising effort for the Princess Máxima Center.
Because I know from personal experience how terrible and miserable the condition is, and I sincerely hope to alter that for my fellow patients in the future. More money means more research, which leads to more cures. That is what I am delighted to devote myself to in my last phase,” she stated on the chat show Renze. Her campaign raised more than two million euros.
The Princess Máxima Center says that the influencer has “served as a true ambassador” for the Center in recent years. “We thank her for her courage, support, and big heart for her fellow sufferers.”
In addition, Kops and her parents established the Villa Jade Foundation, a vacation villa in her hometown of ‘s-Gravenzande where cancer patients and their families may enjoy some fresh air. She gained a royal honour for being the youngest Dutch person, and Queen Máxima paid her a visit as one of her over 300,000 Instagram followers.
Her book Voor altijd jong was published in February and is about how to discover bright spots while you are terminally sick. Jade turned 19 that month.
But things hadn’t been going well for a time, and her symptoms were becoming worse. In late February, it was discovered that the tumour had moved to the left side of her face and towards her brain. She said on Instagram that she only had a few weeks to live.
It’s hard to tell how much time I have left. Maybe I don’t want to know. Each day is a gift.
