Sara Holmes, also known as HojuSara, an Australian YouTuber, died on September 1, 2022, at the age of 31 following a six-month battle with leukemia. Since word of the Korean cuisine enthusiast’s death became public, tributes have poured in on social media. Her fiancé Hyun announced her death on September 5th, and in a memorial, he wrote:
“Because goodbyes are painful, let’s say Bbyong instead.” Bbyong!’”
“Bbyong” is a Korean slang phrase that means “appearance” or “disappearance” and is typically used endearingly to express “dieu.”
Hyun also shared a 40-minute video on Holmes’ YouTube account, which contained a spoken message from the hospital. The video included an audio message recorded by Holmes from the hospital soon before her death, in which she said:
“If you’re reading this, I adore you all. If you’re reading this, I’m looking down from the skies at you. I wanted to see it through to the conclusion. I’ll be looking after everyone… whenever you see anything wonderful, it’ll be me.
The YouTuber continued:
This is not the end of the story. I’m still battling. I’m battling… I wanted to spend more quality time with you all. I intended to write you all a note, but this arrived more quickly than I anticipated. I’ve made so many wonderful pals. I think I’ve exhausted all of my good fortunes. I don’t have any regrets. I would I could spend more time with you, but I will keep an eye on you.”
In August, doctors informed Hyun that she had just a week to live. She survived for 10 days before dying suddenly in September.
As HojuSara passed away, tributes flow in.
The untimely death of the YouTuber rocked the internet. Holmes has over 341k subscribers on the video-sharing site and 50.8k Instagram followers. Condolences for her family and friends filled her social media sites.
Oh god, HojuSara just passed away 😭 She’d been fighting leukemia for 6 months but I really thought she’d make it. I just watched Hyun’s heartbreaking video and cried so hard for an hour straight that I could barely breathe 😭 Life is so fucking unfair – they deserved the world… pic.twitter.com/cCViLHxtvC
— Sarah⁷ (@sarahgirl1412) September 5, 2022
idk if anyone knows who hojusara is, but she’s an aussie vlogger living in korea, she went to the 2018 MAMAs specifically to see stray kids, just bc they had aussie members (like her) and wanted to cheer them on🥺
6 months ago she got leukemia and today she passed away😞💔 pic.twitter.com/u2Vuxnb7BX— eru링💜 stay maxident 💗 (@skzeru) September 6, 2022
Sara Holmes’ hospitalization in detail.
Sara Holmes was diagnosed with leukemia after returning to Brisbane from her fiancé Hyun’s homeland of Sydney in May 2022. She started having unusual and unexpected back problems while visiting with a friend there. When she returned to Brisbane, the discomfort didn’t go away, so she went to the ER for several testing. She was checked for blood clots but was given the false diagnosis of “muscle aches.” Holmes was told to return home and relax for a few days.
However, when she was leaving the hospital, the YouTuber passed out and was transferred to another hospital for more testing. This is where she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. The influencer claimed that the news surprised her since she had been living a very healthy life. She didn’t drink or smoke, and she worked out frequently. Holmes began chemotherapy as soon as she was able, and she has spent every day since her diagnosis with her fiancé and parents.
