Ebony Banks died of a rare stage-four cancer. (@ChristineDobbyn Twitter)
Four days after meeting her idol on FaceTime, a Houston Beyoncé fan who suffered from stage-four terminal cancer has died.
Alief Independent School District spokeswoman Kimberly Smith told NBC Ebony Banks lost her battle late Saturday, March 25. The Alief Hastings High School senior earned the chance of a lifetime when a Twitter campaign led to a video call from 22-time Grammy winner Beyoncé Wednesday, March 22.
During the FaceTime call, shared by a Beyoncé fan account to thousands of likes and retweets, Banks says, “I love you, Beyoncé,” to which Bey responds, “I love you.”
Beyoncé facetiming with Ebony, a fan with a rare cancer disease whose last wish was to see Beyoncé. ❤️️💙 pic.twitter.com/pCkGzF4feZ
— BEYONCÉ LEGION 𐚁 (@BeyLegion) March 22, 2017
The effort was made possible thanks to Banks’ Alief Hastings classmates who lit up Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #EbobMeetsBeyonce, using Banks’ nickname, Ebob.
“[Banks] is a really big fan of [Beyoncé] and she has so much love for her that we really want to get [Banks] to meet her,” Alief Hastings senior Cristal Depaz told ABC13.
“We started hashtagging it, tagging people, we tagged the news,” senior Shanya McKnight told KHOU. “Mostly, we tagged Beyoncé. We wanted to get her attention that Ebony wanted to meet her.”
Meeting Beyoncé, who has not yet responded to her fan’s death, was just one moment Banks experienced while spending most of her final year in high school at MD Anderson Hospital. The school district held a graduation ceremony for the teen Thursday, March 16.
Congratulations to our first graduate of 2017! pic.twitter.com/vFe1yk6Svd
— Alief Hastings HS🐾 (@AliefHastingsHS) March 16, 2017
In rememberance of Banks, the school held a candlelight vigil to the tune of Bey’s “Halo,” Saturday, March 26.
@AliefHastingsHS Band & color guard students tribute to Ebony w her favorite singer – Beyoncé pic.twitter.com/57ida3fCAo
— Alief ISD (@AliefISD) March 27, 2017
