Sydney Towle Celebrates Successful Tumor Removal with Wand and Tiara in Her Hospital Bed

“So there’s seven [tumors], but they could only take out one and it looked like a meatball. It was so weird that that was in my body,” she said

NEED TO KNOW

• Sydney Towle shared an update on TikTok after undergoing surgery to remove one of her tumors as part of a clinical trial to target her cholangiocarcinoma
• The trial involves growing immune cells from her tumor in a lab to potentially create a treatment within two months
• The surgery comes two days after Towle said that her current chemotherapy isn’t working and her tumors are growing

Sydney Towle is sharing an update on her cancer treatments.

The 26-year-old content creator, who was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma at the age of 23, shared a TikTok video of herself in a hospital bed following surgery to remove one of her tumors. In the video, she opened up about how the procedure went and shared her next steps. 

“Hey divas, look at what they gave me for surgery. Isn’t this epic?” Towle opened the video before donning a plastic tiara and wand. “I bet you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you here today… My surgeon showed me a picture of the tumor they removed and it’s so wild.” 

“So there’s seven [tumors], but they could only take out one and it looked like a meatball,” she continued. “It was so weird that that was in my body.” 

The surgery is the first step of a new clinical trial Towle is participating in, as she explained in a TikTok posted on April 20. Doctors will harvest part of her tumor, which they obtained through the operation, and take it to a lab, where they intend to isolate immune cells and “grow them out.”

She said the lab would need two months, but if successful, there would be an 80% chance of harvesting something they could use to treat her cholangiocarcinoma, a rare, aggressive cancer that affects the liver.

“Anyway, I’ll probably be leaving in the next day or so, and then I’ll be coming back on Monday for the five-hour procedure and then I have chemo on Tuesday,” Towle said. 

“… I’ve forgot what we discussed already, so let me know if you have questions. I’ll be here guys,” she continued. “I love all my nurses and doctors, they’re so cool and I gave my surgeon a ‘happy to be here bracelet,’ and I got some Jell-O to eat at some point. Anyway, bye girlies.”

The content creator got emotional earlier in the week as she explained in an Tuesday, April 28 video that her chemotherapy was “not working again” causing her tumors to grow. She said that in the meantime, she would need to “find a chemo to keep things under control for two months” — something she said “is really tough because it feels like I’ve tried everything at this point.”

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“I still have a feeling that everything is going to be okay, but I also am really, really scared that it’s not,” a tearful Towle said. 

” ‘Cause I want more Aprils, and I want more happiness and friendship and love and life,” she said, referencing her recent travels and time spent with loved ones. “I’m terrified that’s not gonna happen, but we’ll just get through tomorrow and then we’ll take it as it comes.”