Sydney Towle, a TikTok and Instagram personality who used her platform to challenge stereotypes about cancer patients and others impacted by the disease, died Wednesday at age 26.
Towle’s family confirmed her death in a post on her social media platforms, describing her as “an endless ray of sunshine” and “a daughter, sister, and friend to so many.”
They wrote, “We will always love you so much Sydney. I am so proud of how hard you fought. I love you.”
The announcement came one day after Towle’s brother, Austin, shared on TikTok that his sister had been moved to hospice care.
A Dartmouth College graduate, Towle was living in Los Angeles, California, and working in marketing when she discovered a lump and a burning sensation in her abdomen.
After seeking treatment for what she and her doctors believed at first to be a hernia, she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in 2023. The rare and aggressive cancer forms in the bile ducts connecting the liver, gallbladder and small intestine.
Amy Sussman via Getty Images
Though Towle’s social media had previously consisted of selfies and the occasional dance trend video, she began sharing videos documenting her experience with Stage 4 cancer, and soon relocated to New York for treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Over time, she joined the ranks of influencers known as “CancerTok,” with her TikTok audience growing to more than 1.1 million followers. On Instagram, her following consisted of over 214,000 users.
Many of her posts didn’t shy away from the realities of the disease, including grueling rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Others, however, were aimed at showcasing her efforts to maintain the life of a typical 20-something in between her medical appointments and hospitalizations.
In 2024, for example, Towle documented her solo trip across Spain, where she explored Madrid and Toledo, among other cities. And in May of this year, she visited Miami Swim Week to walk in The Chemo Club x Post Swim runway show.
Thomas Concordia via Getty Images
“I’m bringing light to this, and so that has encouraged me to continuing posting and sharing, especially when I am not doing well or when I receive good news,” she told NBC’s “Today” in 2024. “It always seems to help people feel less alone, like they’re not the only ones that are going through something that’s very challenging.”
Towle’s social media presence, however, also made her a target of online criticism. A 2025 article published by The New York Times uncovered a contingent of people on Reddit who believed Towle was simply leveraging her illness “for public sympathy and financial benefit.”
Those claims, however, were quickly refuted by Towle’s oncologist, Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa. “A young patient like Sydney, or at any age really, can keep going and look very good,” he told the outlet. “But it does not undermine that she’s still living with a very serious matter.”
Despite her optimism, Towle revealed in May that she’d chosen to switch hospitals after being advised by her doctors to begin end-of-life care. She said at the time, “We are not at the point where we’re giving up.”