Just Weeks After Fulfilling a Lifelong Dream, Sydney Towle’s Family Shares the Heartbreaking Update No One Wanted to Hear
Just weeks after fulfilling a lifelong dream by walking the runway at Miami Swim Week, influencer Sydney Towle has reached the most difficult chapter of her three-year battle with a rare form of bile duct cancer.
The 26-year-old, whose candid and inspiring journey has touched more than one million TikTok followers, has now been moved into hospice care, her family confirmed in an emotional update.
Family announces heartbreaking change in Sydney’s cancer journey
On Tuesday, Sydney’s brother Austin Towle shared the devastating news on TikTok alongside a photo of the 26-year-old surrounded by family and close friends.
“Sydney has been moved to hospice and is surrounded by her friends and family.
Thank you all for your love and support.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Austin paid tribute to his sister’s extraordinary courage.
“Syd has fought so hard through all of this. She is surrounded by her loved ones and she made such a positive impact on so many people.
My mum and I thank everybody who followed her journey and supported her along the way.”
The update comes as a heartbreaking contrast to the hope Sydney continued to share publicly, even as her condition became increasingly serious.
A diagnosis at just 23 changed everything
Sydney was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer, at just 23 years old.
Rather than keeping her illness private, she chose to document every stage of her treatment on social media, sharing everything from hospital admissions and scan results to the emotional highs and lows of living with cancer.
Her openness, resilience and signature message — “Just keep swimming” — transformed her into a powerful source of encouragement for patients around the world.
When chemotherapy stopped working, she refused to give up
In recent months, Sydney revealed that chemotherapy had once again stopped working, forcing her to pursue an experimental tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) clinical trial.
As part of the treatment, surgeons removed part of one of her tumours so researchers could grow immune cells that might later be used to fight her cancer.
In a tearful update shared in late April, Sydney admitted the disease had progressed.
“Unfortunately, chemo is not working again. So everything’s grown.”
Despite the devastating news, she continued to hold onto hope.
“I still have a feeling that everything is going to be okay, but I also am really, really scared that it’s not.”
Her most poignant wish was simple.
“I want more Aprils.
I want more happiness and friendship and love and life.”
Those words would become one of the most memorable moments of her cancer journey.
The month that reminded her life could still be beautiful
Sydney later described April as “the best month of my entire life” in a deeply personal Substack essay.
During a break from chemotherapy before surgery, she travelled to Ireland with her brother Austin, attended Coachella, spent precious time with friends and accepted invitations from beauty brands.
She called the experience a “bubble” — a brief period that reminded her joy was still possible despite living with cancer.
For one month, she felt she had reclaimed a part of the life she feared she was losing.
After being urged to consider end-of-life care, she sought another opinion
In early May, Sydney revealed another heartbreaking setback.
Her oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering advised that he was no longer willing to continue active treatment and instead recommended she transition to end-of-life care.
But Sydney wasn’t ready to stop fighting.
Appearing alongside her mother, Elizabeth Morrow, in a TikTok video, she said:
“We are not at the point where we’re giving up. That is not the line of treatment that I am going under at this moment.”
She transferred her care to another hospital, where a new oncologist reviewed her scans, approved ongoing treatment and even cleared her to travel.
A runway moment that became one of her greatest triumphs
Just days later, Sydney achieved one of her biggest dreams by opening the Chemo Club x Post Swim runway show during Miami Swim Week.
She modelled alongside three women who were either undergoing cancer treatment or had survived the disease, wearing swimwear designed specifically for post-cancer bodies.
Sydney said the experience carried deep personal meaning because treatment had dramatically changed her own body, including a hepatic artery pump that remained visible beneath her swimsuit.
Speaking to People, she said:
“Being able to walk for a swimwear brand that is empowering women to embrace those scars… is so empowering, and it makes me feel even more proud to be in the body that has carried me through so much.”
Her legacy extends far beyond social media
Sydney’s influence reached well beyond TikTok.
She partnered with Little Words Project to create “Happy To Be Here” bracelets, raising more than US$34,000 for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation through nearly 7,000 sales.
She also joined Team CCF for the 2026 New York City Marathon, raising more than US$10,000, and later collaborated on a charity pyjama collection benefiting the foundation.
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation has credited Sydney with becoming one of the disease’s most influential advocates, encouraging patients to seek second and third medical opinions while never losing hope.
“Miracles happen every day”
Even as tumours spread to her lungs and her health continued to decline, Sydney remained remarkably optimistic.
“People always ask why I’m so positive,” she said in one TikTok.
“Why would I not envision the best-case scenario? The alternative is to not do that and to just be sad.”
She acknowledged that reading comments predicting she had only days left to live was painful, but refused to let fear define her outlook.
“Miracles happen every day. Nobody knows for sure what’s gonna happen.”
In one of her final essays, she reflected on her determination to keep trying.
“When asked if I want to keep going, I say of course.
Maybe this will work. Maybe, statistically much more likely, it won’t. But I want to try.”
Now, as Sydney is surrounded by the people who love her most, countless supporters are sending back the same message she spent years offering others: “Just keep swimming.”