Swift Current’s sweetheart and internet sensation Bella Brave passes away

By David Zammit and Kash Knight

A local inspiration, role model, and epitome of bravery has lost a hard-fought battle with her health.

Bella ‘Brave’ Thomson passed away on Sunday afternoon at 4:19 p.m. Eastern at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto after being induced into a coma earlier this week due to a viral lung infection.

Kyla Thomson shared the news with Swift Current Online that her 10-year-old daughter had passed away.

“Please let our hometown know we have always felt their love even though Bella so often needed medical care so far away,” she said via text message. “Please let everyone know we need and welcome all stories of how Bella touched their lives or helped them be brave.”

The family plans to return to Swift Current within the next week, saying “there’s no comfort like our home community.”

No funeral arrangements have been made yet, but the family said they will share them with Swift Current Online once they’re booked.

Bella had a whirlwind year, beginning with finally receiving a life-saving bowel transplant in August of 2023. She’d been on the waiting list for three years for the procedure to help her improve her quality of life as she battled Hirschsprung’s disease.

She celebrated the surgery by meeting one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Ryan Reynolds, a few weeks later at The Hospital for Sick Children.

The internet sensation, with over 7.1 million followers on TikTok (@kylact), was treated with an early Christmas gift by being recognized in the social media’s platform Breakthrough Stars category for the 2023 roundup.

Bella recently met top-flight artist Halsey during a trip to California. The two had been friends since 2021 when the pop star reached out on social media.

Make-A-Wish Canada made her dreams come true in 2021 by supplying her with an enchanted princess playhouse. She became eligible for the program following her a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Her family even invited former Swift Current Online report Ally Paige to tour in shortly after it was constructed.