10-year-old Kennedy Coke has been a lifelong Swiftie, and according to her mom, Jody Hill Coke, “All we do is talk about Taylor Swift.”
Understandably, the pop star has been a bright spot in young Kennedy’s life that has been anything but typical. Instead of typical tween activities, like planning an Eras Tour excursion with her friends, Kennedy has spent much of her young life in and out of cancer treatment.
10-year-old Kennedy was surprised with Taylor Swift tickets by her parents after strangers raised money following her cancer diagnosis.
Since the age of 2, Kennedy has been in out of cancer remission. Her mom explained, “When she was 2, she was diagnosed with an exceedingly rare lung cancer… From age 2 to 3, she was pretty much at the hospital for the whole time.”
Later, their family learned that a genetic mutation was to blame for her early childhood illness, and after years of regular scans, they found additional tumors. After removing those, thankfully, benign tumors from her thyroid, another recent scan revealed more tumors — that, unfortunately, were cancerous.
Her most recent diagnosis was an aggressive uterine cancer requiring a hysterectomy followed by more chemotherapy.
With 12 weeks of intensive chemo on the calendar, her mom began putting all her energy into her daughter’s dream of seeing Taylor Swift in concert as a way to lift her spirits.
The Indianapolis stop of the Eras tour falls just days after the end of her treatment, and her mom has used it as a light to encourage Kennedy to keep fighting.
Kennedy’s mom set up a GoFundMe to raise money for Eras Tour tickets.
The GoFundMe, created with her Taylor Swift dream in mind, has now become a reality, with contributors raising over $16K to purchase tickets for her and her family.
“A lot of people love you very much. With the help of people that Mommy and Daddy don’t even know, strangers from an internet campaign, [we got] something we really wanted for you,” Coke revealed in a recent TikTok, gifting the tickets to her daughter.
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“It’s her very last U.S. date for [The Eras Tour]… Our plane tickets, hotel, and concert tickets have all been purchased,” her dad reassured her. “We’re going for sure.”
In addition to funding the Eras Tour concert costs, donations also covered their transportation.
More focused on what she might wear to the concert, Kennedy’s excitement was palpable and commenters were keen to celebrate with the young fan.
They commended her parents for taking the initiative, supporting their daughter through the toughest of times, and making the light at the end of her chemo journey that much more bejeweled.
Her original video, posted on her TikTok on July 30, not only explained her journey through cancer but also her daughter’s journey of loving Taylor Swift.
From dancing as a toddler in front of the TV to her music to hanging “Midnights” posters in her room, she’s a baby Swiftie at heart.
Indianapolis will mean much more to this family, as the concert not only embodies the last leg of Swift’s U.S. Eras Tour but also the end of this young fighter’s chemo journey after 12 long weeks.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories
