Eldiara Doucette, a 22-year-old social media influencer from the United States, recently held a funeral ceremony for her right arm, which she lost to a rare form of cancer. According to USA Today, Ms Doucette’s journey with synovial sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer affecting only 1,000 people annually, began when she was just 19 years old. In October last year, she underwent an above-elbow amputation of her dominant arm that would remove the aggressive tumour at the centre of her disease.
Before undergoing surgery, Ms Doucette expressed her gratitude to her limb by writing messages on it, acknowledging its role in her life for 22 years. She also bid farewell to the amputated limb with a symbolic funeral ceremony on January 15. She invited a small group of family members, her boyfriend, and friends to join her in saying farewell to her forearm and fingers.
The ceremony was marked by Doucette’s sombre attire, including an all-black outfit and a veil. She knelt beside her embalmed arm, which was laid out in a bed, with her fingernails 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. I laughed at the absurdity of it for a minute, and then just stared at the shriveled-up skin for a while, trying to remember the past 22 years I was able to spend with this thing. 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. I always joke that my arm tried to kill me, but after looking at it on the table, and 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. Cancer has taken a lot from me and continues to, and it’s uniquely difficult to say goodbye to a limb like this, but this experience has helped me process the finality of this situation,” she wrote on Instagram along with pictures of the funeral.
See the pictures here:
After being diagnosed with cancer at 19, Ms Doucette began sharing her journey on social media. Although her posts were sporadic and her following was initially small, a series she created counting down to her amputation surgery went viral.
After the surgery, Ms Doucette revealed that the amputation ultimately brought her a sense of liberation, opening up new possibilities in her life. She is now learning to accept the changes that have come with her new reality and navigate the challenges of adapting to using her left hand.