HEATH, Ohio — Family, friends and loved ones gathered at a church in Heath to share memories and celebrate the life of Jane "Nightbirde" Marczewski Friday night.
Nightbirde, who took the nation by storm with her stellar performance in "America's Got Talent," passed away on Feb. 19 after battling cancer.
Friends, her father, pastor and others took the stage to talk about Nightbirde.
Her friends spoke about college, moments during church camp while her father and pastor talked about watching her grow into a child of God.
Her father, Mitchell, talked about the earlier pictures the crowd saw during a slideshow presentation.
"The nickname I gave Jane when she was growing up is "Janie, you got a million-dollar smile." Mitchell said. "Even when I saw her in San Clemente, an hour before I even knew she was going to pass away, I said you still have that million-dollar smile. And she did."
The Zanesville singer was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2017. She went into remission in 2018.
She was diagnosed again in 2019 and given 3-6 months to live with a 2% chance of survival. But she was again declared cancer-free in 2020.
Before her "America's Got Talent" appearance, Nightbirde was told her cancer spread to her lungs, spine and liver.
She left the show in August saying her health had "taken a turn for the worse."
In a post at the end of January, she wrote that things had been brutal but added a photo of herself because she felt "pretty, and alive, and awake, and human, and real."
You can watch Nightbirde's celebration of life in the player above.