What you need to know
Taylor Swift is helping a young fan in need.
On Friday, October 17, the 35-year-old pop star made a silent donation to the parents of Laila, a 2-year-old girl who suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at 18 months old.
Laila’s mother, Caitlin Smoot, has been sharing her daughter’s story on social media for months, and the toddler’s family has been raising money for her treatment through GoFundMe since March.
The Swift story came to light just last week when Caitlyn shared a video on her TikTok account called “Stand with Lila.” It shows her 2-year-old calling the “Life of a Showgirls” singer “friend” while watching a video of Swift on her iPad.
“This could be my fault,” Caitlyn joked in the caption of her Oct. 8 video, which included footage of the mother-of-two who became pregnant with Lyla while on Swift’s Ellas tour.
“Lyla’s name was originally going to be Willow,” the proud mom continued, referencing Swift’s 2020 song of the same name. “We had that name in mind throughout the pregnancy, but in the end we settled on Lila.”
“I listened to Taylor throughout my pregnancy and then gave birth to Mini Swiftie. Lyla loves Taylor’s music and continued to find joy in it during her cancer treatment,” Catelyn continued. “We hope Lyla can overcome this diagnosis and be able to go to a Taylor Swift concert in person one day. I’m sure she would love it.”
According to the GoFundMe page, Lila’s brain tumor is extremely rare and aggressive, with only 58 known cases recorded in the United States last year.
Although the infant has already had the mass removed from her brain and is recovering well from surgery, Laila’s treatment still includes three months of chemotherapy, three months of stem cell therapy, and proton beam radiation, requiring hospitalization for four weeks at a time and a trip to a children’s hospital several hours away.
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Just a week later, Caitlyn’s heartfelt video seemed to get to Swift, and on Friday, October 17, the musician donated $100,000 on GoFundMe.
“Sending the biggest hugs to my friend Lila!” she wrote under the donation. “I love you, Taylor.”
Catelyn, Lyla, and the rest of the family were immediately overjoyed as they exceeded their fundraising goal of $100,000 by nearly $60,000.
In a video shared Friday, Catelyn wrote that the donation “allows me to focus on being here with my daughter.”
“Is this real?” she captioned a heartwarming video of herself and Lyla dancing to Swift’s new song, “The Fate of Ophelia.”
Caitlyn continued: “Thank you so much @taylorswift. I’m shocked.” “This means so much to us. Words cannot express how grateful we are. Tyler (Lyla’s father) and I can now focus on our baby girl and being together as a family.”
The sweet video also features Laila thanking the pop star and calling her “my friend” again.
Catelyn added: “I can’t stop crying. You gave us such a beautiful gift.” “Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️”
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