SAN ANTONIO — Adalia Rose Williams, a YouTube star from Texas with a rare rapid aging condition, died Wednesday, according to posts on her social media accounts. She was 15.
Williams had millions of followers across social media platforms, including 2.9 million on YouTube and more than 380,000 on Instagram, The Kansas City Star reported. She posted humorous videos, makeup tutorials and gave updates about her life, the newspaper reported.
She was diagnosed with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome when she was 3 months old, her mother told The New Zealand Herald in 2018. According to the Mayo Clinic, the rare disorder causes children to age rapidly, beginning in the first two years of life. Life expectancy is generally two years.
“We don’t even really say the word ‘progeria’ very often, we just treat her like a normal 11-year-old and try to give her the best life,” her father told the Herald in 2018.
“Jan. 12, 2022, at 7 p.m., Adalia Rose Williams was set free from this world,” a post on Williams’ Instagram and Facebook accounts began. “She came into it quietly and left quietly, but her life was far from it. She touched millions of people and left the biggest imprint in everyone that knew her.
“She is no longer in pain and is now dancing away to all the music she loves. I really wish this wasn’t our reality, but unfortunately it is.”
According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, there are only around 400 children in the world living with progeria at any given time, People reported.
In a YouTube video posted in November of 2021, Williams announced that she had moved into a new home with her family in San Antonio, KSAT-TV reported. The family previously lived in Austin, according to the Star.
Williams began posting YouTube videos in 2012.
In the last Instagram post before she died, Williams dressed up as “Clueless” character Cher with the caption, “AS IF!”
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