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Te Warena\/TikTok<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Te Whero, a New Zealand social media star known for a viral Freddie Mercury impression, died on Feb. 13 at age 16<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Te Whero had been diagnosed with a germ cell cancer seven days before his death<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cHe passed away so smoothly,\u201d recalled his guardian, Te Warena, of her final moments with her kid in an interview with a local news outlet. \u201cI just said, \u2018Well done, you did it. You\u2019ve done it and now you\u2019re free\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Te Whero, a New Zealand social media star, died on Feb. 13, his guardian shared in a series of posts to Instagram. He was 16.<\/p>\n
Whero was known online for his viral impressions<\/a> of Freddie Mercury<\/a> in 2022, where he donned a faux mustache to lip-sync the hit Queen track \u201cI Want To Break Free.\u201d Te Warena \u2014\u00a0who has been his guardian since 2017 \u2014 has a combined following of over 800,000 across Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a>, known for sharing comedy and makeup content.<\/p>\n On Feb. 6, Te Whero reported symptoms of a sore leg, his guardian shared in an Instagram video<\/a>. By Feb. 9, the teenager\u2019s symptoms had developed into severe vomiting and seizures, and he was hospitalized.<\/p>\n Te Warena first shared the news of her kid\u2019s hospitalization with her followers on Feb. 9, posting a photo<\/a> of Te Whero in his hospital bed and sharing that he planned to be in the hospital for \u201ca couple of weeks\u201d as doctors developed a treatment plan.<\/p>\n \u201cLove you so much my Te Whero,\u201d penned Te Warena at the time. \u201cYou are so brave.\u201d<\/p>\n On Feb. 11, the content creator shared another update<\/a> about her kid\u2019s health status, asking followers to keep him in their prayers as he had gone into \u201ccritical condition,\u201d and on Feb. 13, Te Warena revealed<\/a> that he had died \u201cpeacefully in my arms.\u201d<\/p>\n Te Warena later shared that her kid had been diagnosed with a germ cell cancer that had spread throughout his abdomen and his brain.<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s <\/strong>free daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the days since his death, Te Whero\u2019s family and community have held several memorial services, and he was laid to rest in Taupiri, New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cI just kept talking, we kept reading. We read out the messages to him as well. He passed away so smoothly,\u201d recalled Te Warena of her final moments with her kid in an interview with Stuff<\/a>, a New Zealand news outlet. \u201cI just said, \u2018Well done, you did it. You\u2019ve done it and now you\u2019re free.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n