Influencer Sydney Towle, 26, Reflected on ‘All That Matters in Life’ in an Emotional Final Essay Before Her Death

The influencer died on Aug. 5, nearly three years after she was diagnosed with a rare bile duct cancer

NEED TO KNOW

• Sydney Towle’s family announced that she died on Aug. 5, nearly three years after she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer
• Months before her death, the 26-year-old opened up about the love in her life in a heartfelt essay shared to her Substack
• Towle documented her life and cancer treatment for over 1 million followers across platforms

Months before the end of her life, Sydney Towle reflected on what it means to love in a final essay posted to her Substack.

The influencer died at age 26 nearly three years after she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer. The news was announced on Thursday, Aug. 6, with posts to her social media pages, where she documented her life and treatment for over 1 million followers across platforms.

Towle also regularly published personal essays to her Substack page in a series she titled “Stoop Thoughts.” On May 11, she shared her last full-length post, which was titled “In sickness and in health: why accepting help is a symbol of love.”

She discussed her reluctance to ask for help as her strength waned amid chemotherapy and her reaction to friends asking to visit her in the hospital, where she noted that she’d recently been readmitted. Towle confessed that she felt a certain amount of inexplicable guilt upon realizing that her loved ones were interested in coming to see and support her.

“This guilt only exists as a bi-product of something askew in my brain. Likely a result of trauma, as are most things. It is not real. Accepting help, asking for help, is normal. It is how our world has always worked — leaning on one another, forming communities, certainly not operating in isolation,” she wrote.

“Being surrounded by love and friends and laughter is healing. It does make you feel better,” Towle continued in her honest reflection.

The late content creator expressed her happiness having her friends in her hospital room, despite the circumstances that led them all to that specific location.

“Because this is what it’s all about, really. All that matters in life, as life keeps reaffirming for me, is the people you love. The people you get to share this life with. The people you get to laugh with until your belly hurts. The ones whose shoulders are there for when the tears start falling. Through every ebb and flow,” Towle wrote.

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She concluded, “This is what help is. It’s not guilt or shame or feeling like a burden. It is love.”

Towle was initially diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23. Since then, she opened up her life to her audience online and discussed the details of her treatment. She had several surgeries, participated in multiple clinical trials and underwent multiple forms of chemotherapy treatments as her illness progressed.

Despite her late-stage illness, Towle flew down to Florida in May for Miami Swim Week, where she modeled beachwear designed for post-cancer bodies in The Chemo Club x Post Swim show.

“Being able to walk for a swimwear brand that is empowering women to embrace those scars … is so empowering,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “It makes me feel even more proud to be in the body that I am that has carried me through so much.”