Physical Wellness

#JujuOnThatChemo: Viral Dancing Woman From Texas Dies

By Meiwa Javellana | Update Date: Jan 20, 2017 08:10 AM EST

Ana-Alecia Ayala died on Wednesday after her long battle with cancer. She has inspired people all over the world with a viral video of her dancing while she was undergoing chemotherapy.

She shared her battle through social media and after posting the video in October, #JuJuOnThatChemo became an internet sensation

"We just wanted to inspire and motivate people in my position to not see cancer as such a depressing, sad, death sentence," Ayala told FOX4News in a previous interview. "We also wanted to encourage people/loved ones/caregivers to get out of their comfort zones (as my chemo buddy Danielle did for me) and laugh, sing, dance through the pain! Laughter has really been the best medicine for me!"

In the video she danced with her friend Danielle Andrus to the song "JuJu On The Beat." She had tubes and other medical equipment strapped to her body while dancing. That landed them a chance to be on TV as they were invited to Ellen DeGeneres' show at Los Angeles, according to NBC.

"There is life after diagnosis. Making the most of the good days and taking this diagnosis and running with it is what I've tried to accomplish," she said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Ellen donated $20,000 from Shutterfly to help with her medical expenses. The #AnaStrong hashtag became a trend after that.

Ana was a 32-year-old wife and a mother to a little girl from Dallas. On December 2015, she was diagnosed with a rare form of uterine sarcoma. In July the following year, doctors found another tumor in her spleen, but she didn't let that get her down.

"My faith in God and my trust in my doctors has gotten me this far," she said in a prior interview with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

She died on Wednesday and her #JujuOnthatChemo video had over 9 million views on Facebook as of Wednesday afternoon.

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