![talia2](http://static1.refinery29.com/bin/entry/1e4/x/499129/talia2.jpg)
Warning: Have a tissue near your desk. Not just because you are about to watch a video of a 12-year-old cancer patient, but because you are about to witness a brightly optimistic, well-spoken, passionate young woman. And, when young women are so inspired, well...we get a little teary.
Should young girls be pressured to wear makeup? Never. But Talia Joy uses her talent to connect with other people — she currently has 100,000 subscribers all interested in checking out her fab looks — and, as she puts it, "...as her wig." The bald beauty then proceeds to explain, in simple and easy-to-imitate language, how to use oranges and yellows (inspired by her bathing suit), how to do 3-D nails, and a so-simple metallic smokey eye. Interspersed between each of her videos are messages of encouragement to fellow survivors and tutorials especially designed for hair-loss or eyebrow thinning.
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What we love is that Talia doesn't shy away from her cancer: Each of her vids shows Talia gorgeously bald, absolutely optimistic, frank about her treatment, and confident. Talia exudes personality, confidence, and maturity, something we wish every girl her age was fortunate enough to possess — which is what makes her most recent video hard.
Yesterday, the burgeoning beauty uploaded a message to her fans where she stated, "Basically, I have two types of cancer in my body." This includes her neuroblastoma, but she just found out she has pre-Leukemia in her bone marrow, too. "They are both very very deadly. We'll put it that way. I'm being straight up about that," she says.
In fact, we'll let you see Talia's strength and wisdom, through her own words: "They said this is going to be the toughest thing I've had to do, if I choose to do it...I'm going to decide whether or not I want to do the bone-marrow transplant, or whether I don't do it and live the time I have remaining. So...that's basically it. I know it's a kinda like a lot to take in, but right now where I'm leaning to is not doing it. Because I don't want to go through that."
We can't comment on how dangerous of a surgery the bone-marrow transplant is. We can't possibly fathom what she, and her family, are going through. But we can say that her spark and joy of life, plus her fun and sassy videos, are beyond inspiring. No matter what happens, Talia Joy, you are a beautiful human being. From across the span of the internet, your strength and radiance are inspiring, and have deeply touched lots of viewers. (Jezebel)
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(And, readers, we told you to have a tissue at your desk — now it appears we need one, as well.)
Photo: Via TaliaJoy18's YouTube