Teen battling brain cancer dreams of meeting Taylor Swift
A teenage girl suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer has one last wish – she wants to meet her idol, Taylor Swift.
Laura James, 16, from Fayetteville, Arizona, US, was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, Glioblastoma, in May. She was told the average life expectancy is 15 months, and she’s desperately hoping to see her favourite pop star perform one last time.
Swift is heading off on her Reputation World Tour in May next year, which will take in Australian shows in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney between October 19 and November 6. Before then, it stops in Kansas City, Missouri – the closest show to Laura’s home - for a show at Arrowhead Stadium on September 8 and Laura wants to be there to meet her idol.
Laura attended the Jingle Bash in Chicago on December 7 where she performed six songs.
In an impassioned post to Twitter this week Laura said “I just really want to meet Taylor Swift before everything declines rapidly. It would mean the world to me if someone could #takemetotaylor,” she wrote.
Her post has been retweeted more than 2000 times as Laura tries desperately to find someone able to help her achieve her dream.
Laura was diagnosed in May and has since gone through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Speaking to 9news.com.au Laura said she’s been listening to Swift’s music on repeat since her diagnosis and finding out she had a tumour on her cerebellum.
She has been in and out of hospital ever since, undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, and while she was once a keen sportswoman, she now struggles to complete daily tasks.
“I’m not able to go to school. I’m not even allowed to see my friends except for a couple at a time and everyone is wearing a mask,” she said. (I’m) unable to do things like write, use a spoon/fork, put in contacts, hold anything, or really just do anything with my right hand and a limp in my right leg. I would hug her and tell her thank you,” she said. “Her music has helped me on my hardest days because it was the one thing that was constant, when all else failed, Taylor and her music didn’t.”
The 16-year-old is unable to afford tickets while paying for treatment and is desperately hoping someone will be able to take her to a show.
Despite being covered by two separate insurance companies, the health system in the US is such that treatment still involves a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. “My family is paying for it,” Laura said.
“While being covered by a couple different insurance companies, (it is) still expensive, especially considering that my mum can’t work all the time therefore she doesn’t get paid.”
She said she “can’t put it into words” how much it would mean to her if someone could get her to the September 8 concert to meet the woman who’s helped her so much, if only “to tell her how much she inspires me every day to just keep going”.
