Earlier this month, a woman named Katelynn Smoot shared a heartwarming video of her young daughter, who is battling cancer, watching the music video for Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia.” In the clip, little Lilah points at the screen and says, “That’s my friend!”
The video quickly went viral, with fans flooding Smoot’s @standwithlilah social media page with messages of love and support for Lilah, who is fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer. Just a few weeks later, on Friday, Lilah received a touching surprise from her “friend” Swift — a $100,000 donation to her GoFundMe for medical care, and a sweet message: “Sending the biggest hug to my friend, Lilah! Love, Taylor.”
The quiet donation from Swift, spotted by Swifties, has inspired other fans of the pop star to follow suit by contributing to the fundraiser, each in increments of $13, in honor of Swift’s favorite number. As of publication, the fundraiser has raised over $167,000 in donations from more than 2,000 people.
After the six-figure donation, Smoot shared a video of herself and Lilah dancing to “The Life of Ophelia,” reacting to the news and sharing their gratitude for Swift’s generosity. “Thank you beyond words, Taylor Swift. We can now just focus on being here with our girl. Truly, we are so grateful… You have no idea what this means to our family,” she captioned the post.
On the page, Smoot has shared her and her daughter’s love for Swift — and how she birthed a “little Swiftie” after attending the Eras Tour while pregnant with her. “Lilah’s name was originally going to be Willow,” Smoot explained in one video, referencing the Folklore favorite. “We were set on that name my whole pregnancy, but ultimately ended on Lilah.”
On the GoFundMe, which has been running since Lilah started chemotherapy in March, Smoot explained baby Lilah was diagnosed with a “very rare aggressive form of brain cancer” earlier this year after suffering a seizure. An MRI found a stage 4 tumor, which was removed in March, and she has since been undergoing chemo. In an August update, the Smoots updated donors about the treatment.
“After [an MRI and LP], she will start 6 weeks of proton radiation, where our family will have to travel to [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] for her to receive,” they wrote. “We will be a few hundred miles away from home. All the donations we receive will help us with travel expenses and paying bills as we are still out of work while Lilah is in treatment.”
