In late October, Eldiara Doucette learned that she had only five days left with her arm.

The 22-year-old was battling synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer that targets soft tissues, which had returned. Her hospital’s tumor board convened to evaluate her treatment options. Shortly after, Doucette got the call informing her that she would need to undergo surgery to amputate her right arm above the elbow. This would mean losing her dominant hand, but it would also eliminate the large, aggressive tumor at the center of her medical issue.

It was a devastating circumstance, but Doucette felt relieved to have a clear plan. She just wanted the process to begin and end as soon as possible.

“I really did not want to wait around,” she recalls. “I got scheduled for surgery just five days after that call.”

Diagnosed with cancer at 19, Doucette had been sharing her experiences on social media. Though her following was not large, a countdown series she posted leading to her amputation caught the public’s attention and went viral.

Now, another of her videos has also captured widespread attention. After the amputation, Doucette wanted to honor her arm, so she arranged for the limb to be sent to a mortician who embalmed it and organized an open-casket funeral, attended by her friends and family.

The video from the event, featuring Doucette, her loved ones, and her severed arm, has gained over 15 million views on Instagram and nearly 40 million on TikTok. Doucette mentions that the event provided her with valuable lessons concerning cancer, healing, and finding closure.

“In the video, you can see me experiencing a range of emotions, and there was definitely a shock factor involved,” she shares. “I got to sit there and process everything I had lost with this arm and everything I would never recover, which is a sad but necessary aspect of healing.”

She lost her arm to cancer. Her open-casket funeral for it went viral.

Doucette first sensed something was off with her arm at 16 when she felt pain and numbness in her hand, assuming it was carpal tunnel syndrome. At about 18, she discovered a lump but thought it was caused by swelling.

It wasn’t until she turned 19 and an MRI uncovered the truth that she learned that lump was a golf-ball-sized tumor on her median nerve. Further tests revealed it was cancerous.

Doucette underwent a month of radiation and several surgeries, putting her cancer into remission for about a year. However, her doctors later detected a new cancerous mass.

“By then, I was aware that an amputation would likely be the next step, as I had discussed it extensively with my surgeon,” Doucette explains. “There was no safe way to remove it again without significantly impairing the functionality of my arm.”

In the days leading up to her amputation, Doucette aimed to memorialize her arm in various ways. She made ink thumbprints, created a plaster cast of her hand, and invited her social media followers to write short messages on her arm with a marker. Some messages were humorous, while others were sincere: “I appreciate your sacrifice,” one read, and another said, “Thanks for all the wiping.” A friend captured these moments with her messages at her beloved mountain in Southern California.

Then, the time for the surgery arrived, and while she was in the operating room, one of her amputation videos unexpectedly went viral.

“I remember waking up after the surgery to my friends and boyfriend telling me I had gained over a hundred thousand followers while I was out,” she recalls.

Doucette had made arrangements with a mortician to preserve the bones of her arm, and it was his idea to organize the open-casket funeral.

“I jokingly asked him if there was any chance I could see my arm before it was sent away,” she says. “I expected maybe a quick look, but he proposed, ‘It’s unconventional but how about a viewing where friends and family can come, and we can have an hour in the room with it, fully prepared and dressed as a body would be?'”

Doucette’s reaction was immediate: “Of course, I took that opportunity.  I cope by finding silver linings in everything, even if it’s oddly morbid.”

Her friends eagerly agreed to join her for the memorial, with Doucette only requesting that they wear black attire, which they were happy to do. Doucette dressed in a long black gown and wore a black veil.

The funeral took place in early January. The mortician kindly guided her through the process and explained how her arm would be presented.

Doucette was touched by the care he applied to preserving her arm, ensuring that her fingernails retained their black polish—the same color she had chosen before her surgery.

Her boyfriend’s mother even brought a corsage for the arm’s wrist. Doucette felt deeply moved by the love and heartfelt tribute to her arm.

When she entered the room, it marked her first encounter with her arm since the surgery. Overcome with emotion, she cried for about a minute, acknowledging that it was a necessary part of her healing.

“The last time I had seen it was when I was placed on the surgery table,” she remembers. “I was holding it above my face, wiggling my fingers, and trying to grasp what was about to happen, and then I fell unconscious. So having a chance to say goodbye in a more compassionate manner was surprisingly liberating. What began as a joke evolved into something beautiful.”

The funeral for her amputated arm changed the way she saw cancer

The entire experience altered Doucette’s perception of her arm, her cancer, and herself.

For years, Doucette felt her right arm was merely a source of suffering and a burden she carried.

However, seeing her arm laid before her shifted her viewpoint. She began seeing it not as an adversary but as a victim of her illness, like the rest of her body.

“I found myself in a position to forgive it, almost viewing it as a martyr to the disease invading my body,” she explains. “Ultimately, it is my body fighting against the cancer; the cancer is the real enemy. Losing my arm has helped me extend forgiveness to it.”

Since the amputation and the viral memorial, Doucette has continued her cancer treatment. She’s currently undergoing a rigorous type of chemotherapy, which she’s also chronicling online. She is set to start her third round later this month.

She has adjusted to using her left hand for various activities and is grieving the loss of some capabilities, such as playing the guitar, yet she strives to remain positive. Ultimately, she views her amputation as liberating.

“I felt frustrated by a part of me that was connected yet also brought me so much pain and was virtually non-functional,” she reflects on life before the surgery. “Now, having the amputation has opened up a path of opportunities for me.”