What to Know
Influencer Nara Smith recently opened up about a difficult time her family has been dealing with. The 24-year-old mom of four shared that her toddler daughter Whimsy was diagnosed with cancer. She did not give many details about the type of cancer or where things stand now, but she was honest with her followers about the struggle the young family has been dealing with for months. Having a young child with cancer is a struggle for many families, and for Smith, the diagnosis and treatment came shortly after she gave birth to her youngest child. To navigate a sick child while recovering from childbirth and other family challenges couldn’t have been easy.
Smith shared the news via an Instagram reel on July 1, 2026.
“There is no easy way to say this or to talk about any of this,” Smith said. “But late last year our daughter Whimsy got diagnosed with cancer.”
She explained that after she “saw something suspicious” on the toddler, she and her husband Lucky Blue Smith took the girl to the ER. “They didn’t quite know what to make of it,” she said of the emergency room doctors. As a result, they took the tot to their family pediatrician.
“I just remember him going really quiet and calm and my heart dropped in that moment,” she said of the visit with the doctor. Despite nothing being said, Smith said “The first thing I felt was, ‘She has cancer.’”
According to Smith, the diagnosis came after “a lot of X-rays, ultrasounds and finally a biopsy.” But then came something the family wasn’t expecting.
“They told us it had spread and that she needs to come and start chemo treatments immediately.”
Throughout the difficult process, she was able to find support.
She said that since Whimsy’s diagnosis, she has been “on a plethora of forums, social media and also talked to parents and family in the hospital.”
In the post’s caption, Smith wrote that she is “thankful for each and every nurse and doctor along our journey who helped us get through and out the other end.”
“Processing this and navigating all of this as a family has been really hard,” Nara Smith admitted. She pointed out that her followers may have noticed she has been “posting a little bit less” in recent months, and was finally sharing that her daughter’s health was “the reason why.”
In addition to Whimsy, Smith and her husband share three other children: five-year-old Rumble Honey, three-year-old Slim Easy, and 11-month-old Fawnie Golden.
“Having found all of this out and navigating this while postpartum, also loving and caring for our other kids at home, also being in the hospital with Whimsy a lot and balancing work on top of that has been really challenging.”
As they’ve navigated this challenging time in life, Nara Smith is learning a lot.
With four young children at home and steady work as an influencer on top of having a sick child in the hospital, Smith was navigating uncharted territory.
“Some days are a little easier, some days are really hard and all I can do is try my best and show up in all those areas in the best way I can,” she said of the process.
Still, she believes that opening up about what the family has been facing will ultimately be positive.
“We wanted to share this to hopefully bring someone else that comfort—or even hopefully incentivize you to go check something out that you’ve been avoiding,” she said. “I hope that by sharing this I can bring someone a little bit of comfort and make you feel a little less alone on your journey—whatever that may be.”
Smith received thousands of well wishes from many of her followers, but one message of support sticks out.
“Honoring you and your fortitude as you have embarked on the unimaginable journey that cancer is,” Kimberly Van Der Beek, widow of James Van Der Beek, who died from cancer earlier this year, wrote.
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