Ellen Degeneres fought back tears as she delivered a tribute to Tayt Andersen, a frequent guest of her daytime talk show who charted his lifelong heart condition on his visits to see her.
“We had a very special guest on the show several times, and his name is Tayt,” DeGeneres said in an Instagram video Friday. “He thought that I was his girlfriend, so I told him he was my boyfriend, which shocked my wife.”
Anderson died Friday at age 19 after a lifelong battle with heart disease. He was born without the left side of his heart and endured several open heart surgeries in order to save his life. To commemorate his death, DeGeneres tearily shared a montage of his many visits.
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” provided comfort for Andersen as a young boy in the hospital, his mom said in one clip from the show, and the nurses would even schedule therapy sessions around his afternoon viewings.
“He was a very special little human being, just brought joy and life and laughter into every room that he was in, and I will miss him,” DeGeneres said.
“I love you Tayt. I love you Chrissy. You touched so many lives,” the comedian captioned the post.
Anderson’s family revealed that last weekend he fought “one last battle” and passed away peacefully Friday morning. His mother Chrissy commented on Degeneres’ Instagram.
“We love you so much thank you for being his girlfriend you gave him so much strength,” she wrote.
The nearly three-minute tribute played clips from Anderson’s several appearances on the show. “There aren’t too many people who have a heart as good as yours,” DeGeneres said in one clip. “But if you want to get another heart, that’s OK with me.”
Watch the video here:
The Andersen family posted a carousel of images of Tayt’s final days to Instagram Friday, delivering the news of his passing. Anderson was 19 years old. His family captioned the post with the #JustKeepSwimming, the “Finding Nemo” mantra from DeGeneres’ character Dory.
“Our hearts are absolutely shattered as we share the news we never wanted to write: Our sweet, strong warrior, Tayt, was released from his bodily prison early this morning, at 1:30 a.m. CT, surrounded by the fierce love of his family,” his family wrote in an Instagram statement. “While our souls feel shattered and lost by this unimaginable grief, we are so thankful that Tayt is finally free. No more pain, no more appointments, no more treatments.”
“Yesterday, we spent the day calling and FaceTiming family so they could say their goodbyes. We made sure to get his handprint—a small way to hold on to him— we watched his favorite movies, read his favorite stories,” the statement continued. “We knew Tayt’s time was limited but we honestly just weren’t ready to lose him.”
