Social media influencer Sydney Towle, who shared her cancer journey, dies at 26
Sydney Towde, a TikTok creator known for documenting her battle with cholangiocarcinoma, died at age 26, her family announced on her social-media accounts.
Sydney Towle, a 26-year-old content creator who chronicled her fight with cholangiocarcinoma on TikTok, died on Wednesday, her family confirmed in a video posted to her account. Towle was diagnosed with the aggressive bile-duct cancer in August 2023 and had been sharing her treatment experience and daily life for nearly three years.
"Syd went peacefully last night after an almost three-year long battle with cholangiocarcinoma," her brother Austin Towle said in the video. "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, Elizabeth Morrow, expressed gratitude for the messages of support and said her daughter would not be forgotten. Towle, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and raised in Hobe Sound, Florida, died at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Before her diagnosis, Towle had built a following of more than one million TikTok users, posting videos of surfing, running and travel. After learning she had cancer at age 23, she continued to post candid updates from hospital beds and chemotherapy sessions while maintaining a positive outlook, a tone she summed up early on with, "I’m in good spirits, I’m smiling. If anything, it just makes me appreciate life more."
She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2022 with a degree in government and environmental studies and worked as a social-media manager for Epic Games. Towle also used her platform to raise funds for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, pledging to run the 2026 New York City Marathon and having already collected more than $10,000 for the nonprofit.
She is survived by her mother and brother; her father died in 2016.