Esther Thomas, a Nigerian TikTok creator known as 'Sunshine', has died at the age of 30 after undergoing surgery for uterine fibroids, her family has confirmed.
Her family announced the news on social media, stating that Thomas 'suddenly passed away' on 9 January following the procedure. 'We are trying to put things in place so we could put her to rest,' they wrote.
Thomas, who had over 600,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, was known for comedy skits with other content creators. Her friend and collaborator Chidera Madu revealed that Thomas began experiencing stomach pain on 28 December and was hospitalised on 1 January after the pain worsened.
Doctors discovered that her fibroids had grown and recommended surgery to remove them. Madu said the operation was reported as successful, but complications arose leading to her death. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths that are more common in Black women.
Tributes have flooded social media, with one friend writing: 'Never in my wildest dream did I even think of typing RIP to my closest friend... My whole day shattered waking up to such news.' Another fan said: 'Was actually hoping the news was fake... you were such a nice, dedicated and very hardworking person.'
