Sydney Towle, social media content creator, dies in Maryland at 26 after documenting life with rare cancer
Sydney Towle, a social media content creator who documented her life with a rare cancer, died Wednesday at the age of 26, according to her family.
Towle was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer in the bile ducts, in August 2023. She died at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the New York Times.
Her mother, Elizabeth Morrow, and brother, Austin Towle, posted a video on her TikTok account confirming she died Wednesday.
"Syd went peacefully last night after an almost three-year long battle with cholangiocarcinoma," her brother said. "She fought really hard, and we're so proud of her, and we thank all of you for your support over the years."
Her mother added they appreciated the messages of support and that "she will not be forgotten."
The video has received more than half a million likes and thousands of comments, with messages like, "It's been an honour following your journey" and, "You've changed my outlook on life."
"A beacon of hope for so many"
Towle was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts on Nov. 15, 1999, and grew up in Hobe Sound, Florida, according to the New York Times.
At the time of her diagnosis, the then-23-year-old already had a presence on social media, where she shared videos of her everyday life. She often posted from the beach and loved the outdoors as an avid surfer and runner.
Once she received her diagnosis, she began posting the unvarnished reality of the disease and treatment, while holding fast to her hobbies, style and positive attitude. She had more than a million followers on TikTok alone.
In a video posted days after she was diagnosed, Towle said, "I'm in good spirits, I'm smiling. If anything, it just makes me appreciate life more." That essentially became the ethos that guided her online presence.
In a column this year advocating for increased research funding, Towle's mother wrote that she had seen her daughter become "a beacon of hope for so many" through her candid online presence.
"Thousands of people send her messages, stop her on the street and leave comments on her videos, describing how her vulnerability has helped them through their own struggles," Morrow wrote in February.
Towle's hopes for the future
Towle graduated from Dartmouth College in 2022, where she studied government and environmental studies. She worked as a social media manager at Epic Games.
She had posted on her LinkedIn about plans to run the 2026 New York City Marathon in November to raise money for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. She had raised more than $10,000 for the nonprofit that advocates for research and provides resources for patients and caregivers.
"I know it might seem crazy to try to run a marathon with everything going on," she wrote on the platform months ago. But she noted the importance of hope in her experience with the disease. "Hope keeps us alive, it keeps us going, it makes the impossible seem possible."