Influencer Sydney Towle, 26, enters hospice amid cancer battle… weeks after walking the runway
Influencer Sydney Towle has entered hospice care after spending the last three years documenting her battle with a rare form of bile duct cancer, her family announced on Tuesday.
Towle’s brother, Austin, shared the update in a TikTok post alongside a photo showing the 26-year-old surrounded by family and friends.
‘Sydney has been moved to hospice and is surrounded by her friends and family. Thank you all for your love and support,’ the text over the image read.
Austin added in the caption: ‘Thank you all so much. Your love and support does not go unnoticed.’
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Austin said: ‘Syd has fought so hard through all of this.
‘She is surrounded by her loved ones and she made such a positive impact on so many people. My mom and I thank everybody who followed her journey and supported her along the way.’
The update comes weeks after Towle walked the runway at Miami Swim Week while continuing to pursue an experimental clinical trial after seeking a second medical opinion.
Diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma at the age of 23, Towle has built a devoted following by candidly documenting every stage of her treatment, from difficult scan results and hospital stays to milestones she refused to let cancer take away.
Influencer Sydney Towle has entered hospice care after documenting her three-year battle with rare bile duct cancer to more than one million TikTok followers
Towle walked the runway during Miami Swim Week in May after transferring her care to a new hospital and receiving clearance to travel
In recent months, Towle had been preparing for the next phase of an experimental tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) clinical trial after learning her chemotherapy had stopped working.
As part of the treatment, surgeons removed a portion of one of her tumors so researchers could isolate and grow immune cells that would later be used to fight her cancer.
Earlier that day, she had described the trip to chemotherapy as one of her ‘top five worst days,’ revealing that her mother had accompanied her because nurses did not think she could make the journey alone.
And in late April, she shared another setback.
‘Unfortunately, chemo is not working again. So everything’s grown,’ Towle told followers.
‘I still have a feeling that everything is going to be okay, but I also am really, really scared that it’s not,’ she said through tears.
‘I want more Aprils, and I want more happiness and friendship and love and life. I’m terrified that’s not gonna happen, but we’ll just get through tomorrow, and then we’ll take it as it comes.’
The phrase ‘more Aprils’ was a nod to a recent Substack essay in which Towle described April as ‘the best month of my entire life’ after taking a break from chemotherapy ahead of surgery.
Towle’s brother, Austin, announced Tuesday that the 26-year-old had been moved to hospice and was surrounded by family and friends
Towle sought treatment at another hospital after her Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist recommended she transition to end-of-life care
Throughout her illness, Towle often reminded supporters to ‘just keep swimming’ and shared candid updates about the challenges and triumphs of living with cancer
During that time, she traveled to Ireland, attended Coachella, spent time with friends and accepted beauty brand invitations.
Calling the month ‘a bubble,’ Towle wrote that it reminded her happiness was still possible, even while living with cancer.
For one month, she said she felt she had reclaimed part of that life.
But in early May, Towle was rushed to the hospital after nurses discovered dangerously high calcium levels during a chemotherapy appointment, forcing them to halt her treatment and call an ambulance.
Just days before she walked the runway at Miami Swim Week on May 28, Towle revealed that her oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering had told her he was no longer willing to continue treating her cancer and instead recommended she transition to end-of-life care.
‘We are not at the point where we’re giving up,’ Towle said in a TikTok alongside her mother, Elizabeth Morrow. ‘That is not the line of treatment that I am going under at this moment.’
Towle transferred her care to another hospital, where a new oncologist reviewed her scans and cleared her to both continue treatment and travel to Florida.
Just over a week later, Towle fulfilled one of her dreams by opening the Chemo Club x Post Swim show.
She joined three other women who were either undergoing cancer treatment or were cancer survivors to model swimwear designed specifically for post-cancer bodies.
Towle said the opportunity resonated deeply because she had struggled to embrace changes to her own body after treatment, including a hepatic artery pump implanted in her abdomen that remained visible beneath a swimsuit.
Syd has shared updates throughout her cancer journey, encouraging followers to remain hopeful while advocating for second and third medical opinions
The 26-year-old partnered with Little Words Project to create ‘Happy To Be Here’ bracelets, raising more than $34,000 for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation
In one of her most recent essays, Towle wrote that hospitals had become places of hope and healing, adding that even amid uncertainty, she wanted to ‘keep going’ and ‘try’
‘Being able to walk for a swimwear brand that is empowering women to embrace those scars … is so empowering, and it makes me feel even more proud to be in the body that I am that has carried me through so much,’ she told People.
The trip almost didn’t happen. Towle had remained hospitalized until May 22 after a series of complications, but said her new medical team ultimately encouraged her to make the journey.
‘I’ve always felt better when I am in the sun or by the water,’ she said, adding that the women participating in the show had been ‘hyping each other up’ before they even met.
‘It’s always such a special community when it’s a community of women who are uplifting each other and supporting each other. I think that’s even more true when it’s people who have been through something as difficult as cancer.’
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation has credited Towle with becoming a powerful advocate for others living with the rare cancer, encouraging patients to ask questions and fight for every available option while reminding followers to ‘just keep swimming.’
Her advocacy extended beyond social media.
Towle previously partnered with Little Words Project to create a custom bracelet bearing the phrase ‘Happy To Be Here,’ raising more than $34,000 for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation through nearly 7,000 bracelet sales.
She also joined Team CCF for the 2026 New York City Marathon, raising more than $10,000 toward the foundation’s fundraising efforts, and later collaborated on a pajama collection benefiting the organization.
Towle traveled to Ireland with her brother, Austin, during a brief break from chemotherapy, later describing the trip as part of the ‘best month’ of her life in a Substack essay
The siblings explored Ireland together during what Towle called a precious ‘bubble’ between treatments, a period she spent making memories with loved ones before returning to the hospital
Even while juggling fundraising and treatment, Towle has continued to document the realities of life with cancer.
Later, she revealed doctors had found tumors in her lungs, but continued preparing for the next stage of the TIL trial.
Even as her condition worsened, Towle refused to let fear dictate her outlook.
‘People always ask why I’m so positive,’ she said in one recent TikTok.
‘Why would I not envision the best-case scenario? The alternative is to not do that and to just be sad.’
She acknowledged that comments suggesting she had only days left to live could be painful to read, but said she refused to let them define her outlook.
‘Miracles happen every day,’ she said. ‘Nobody knows for sure what’s gonna happen.’
Her optimism also carried into the essays she published on Substack.
A note from the reporter: As a fellow cancer patient, Sydney’s words and outlook have meant more to me than I can say. Wearing this bracelet while writing her story felt especially meaningful
In one of her most recent posts, Towle wrote that hospitals had transformed from places she once feared into places that represented comfort, healing and hope.
In another, she described the pain and exhaustion caused by a tumor blocking her digestive tract after doctors explained they would support whatever decision she made about continuing treatment.
‘When asked if I want to keep going I say of course,’ she wrote. ‘Maybe this will work. Maybe, statistically much more likely, it won’t. But I want to try.’
Another essay focused not on medicine but on learning to accept help from others after years of believing she was burdening those around her.
‘This is what help is,’ Towle wrote. ‘It is love.’
Austin thanked the hundreds of thousands of supporters who followed his sister’s journey over the past three years.
‘To the people who have followed Sydney’s journey, thank you so much for the words of encouragement and endless support,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘Sydney was a young woman who faced a challenge no one should ever have to face. She was able to use her social media to raise awareness for a horrible disease and did so much good. We will continue to honor her legacy and we will just keep swimming.’
