Anna Cunningham

Anna was born on June 9, 2002, in Carbondale, Colorado, to Julie Warren and Red Cunningham. She has a younger brother named Cooper.

In March 2016, doctors diagnosed Anna with Ewing’s sarcoma for the first time. A rare form of cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma is a malignant small, round, blue cell tumour that grows in the bone and in soft tissue. It predominantly occurs in the pelvis, the femur, the humerus, the ribs, the mandible and clavicle (collarbone). She started to undergo treatment soon after. During this period, the family came to believe that “cancer” is a bad word with all its negative connotations. According to them, the word renders an individual overwhelmed with fear, panic, heartbreak, and uncertainty and imparts the realization that every plan that one has made and the life that he or she has known until then will be completely swept away in a moment. They added, “When this word is associated with a child, it adds an even greater depth of grief and sense of injustice.” Due to this belief, they are using a code word, “peaches”, for cancer, as it is generally associated with summer and sweetness. To the family, the fruits are symbols of life and messy abundance.

After they beat the disease for the first time, Anna and her family genuinely thought that they had managed to overcome her cancer. However, it returned about a month later, on April 21, 2016. Realising how costly her treatment would be, Anna’s aunt, Deb Warren Logar, on behalf of her mother, set up a GoFundMe page so the well-wishers can donate for the treatment. Anna subsequently started the second round of her fight, which included intense chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant at Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado.

Her cancer returned yet again in mid-2017. The doctors told the family that the lump that had appeared on Anna’s forehead was the return of her cancer. The treatment started once more. Three months after this, the fundraiser reached its initial goal of $15,000. The family decided to raise the goal to $20,000. The fundraiser has raised just over $22,000 till date. According to the family, some of the money would go to renting an apartment close to Children’s Hospital.

In March 2018, Anna’s mother reported that they had decided on the third regime of treatment which was still regarded as an active treatment. They were still hoping that they would beat it. It would involve consecutive chemotherapy and radiation. If it did not work, they had plans of trying out experimental treatments.

Anna Cunningham set up her TikTok account when the app was still called musical.ly. The first video she posted on the app was captioned ‘Smile’. In it, she was performing to Daniel Skye’s song ‘Smile’. At present, she is a crowned user with more than 280,000 fans and over two million hearts. In late 2016, the app featured four of her videos, helping her accumulate her first 100,000 fans. However, it appears that all her videos on the app have been deleted.

Besides TikTok, she also has accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Her two Snapchat usernames are yellowpillow123 and annaxcunningham whereas her Instagram account is called anna123bean. Created in September 2012, her YouTube channel has only one video. It was uploaded in August 2017 and is titled ‘Best Friend Tag!!! So Gross!’ As the title suggests, her best friend Mia makes an appearance in the video.