Jalene Salinas, who was 4, passed away late Sunday after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer since April 2014. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Arrigas)
The little girl battling terminal cancer in Texas who got her last wish to FaceTime with Taylor Swift passed away Sunday evening, Fox 29 in San Antonio, Tex., reported.
Jalene Salinas, who was 4, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in April 2014. Several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery had proved unsuccessful, khou.com reported. When doctors said there was little more they could do, Salinas’ family began checking off her bucket list, which included “shaking off” cancer with Taylor Swift.
Once Salinas’ final wish caught wind on the Web, the hashtag #ShakeItoffJalene began trending on Twitter. Taylor Swift reportedly heard about the little girl’s dream while she was in London at the Brit Awards in late February. She ended up making a FaceTime call on Mar. 2 to Salinas and her mother, Jennifer Arrigas, for about 20 minutes, according to khou.com.
That day and the days following, Salinas missed several benefit events that were held in her honor. But the little girl mustered up enough strength to utter, “Love y’all,” to the pop star as well as to her supporters, in a YouTube video after the video call.
After the FaceTime call, Arrigas thanked Swift and said, “As her mom it just, it means the world to me that she got to do and see and everything is checked off now. It means so much to me that you reached out to us."
Click for more from FoxSanAntonio.com and khou.com.
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