Mom SPEAKS OUT After Taylor Swift Donates $100k To Daughter Battling Cancer

Mom SPEAKS OUT After Taylor Swift Donates $100k To Daughter Battling Cancer

Taylor Swift just donated $100,000 to our GoFundMe. And I just I didn’t know. I was like, “No, you’re kidding.” And he’s like, “No, I’m serious.” So, I’m scrolling my phone trying to find the donation ad like tears are welling up in my eyes. And once I saw it and I saw her message, I knew that it was real. Like, she had to have seen the video. Caitlyn Smoo and her 2-year-old daughter Laya got the gift of a lifetime courtesy of their friend Taylor Swift. The pop star quietly donated $100,000 to Laya, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after suffering a seizure when she was 18 months old. At the time, her mom, Caitlyn, was in labor with her son when a doctor stepped into the delivery room to tell her Laya was in the emergency room. According to People, she later learned her daughter had suffered a seizure at home and was rushed to the hospital. Moments after her son was born, Laya was diagnosed with ATRT, a very rare and aggressive tumor. Access Hollywood spoke with Caitlyn, who explained the type of cancer her daughter is battling. ATRT is a type of brain cancer. It’s considered a grade four brain tumor. So, it’s the fastest, most aggressive brain tumor that you could have. It primarily affects children under the age of three. And Laya was diagnosed in February of 2025, so this past year, at 18 months old. Um, she had had a seizure while I was in labor with our son and that’s what led to finding a tumor right above her head. It’s no surprise Laya is a big fan of Taylor. Caitlyn told Access she was pregnant with Laya when she went to the Aerys tour. Her music continued to be a big presence in her life after she was born and while she was going through treatment. But one day everything changed. Shortly after Taylor released her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, Caitlyn shared a sweet video of Laya dancing along to the music video for the fate of Ailia, even calling Taylor her friend. [Music] You say she’s your friend? Yeah. I was listening to the new album, The Life of a Showgirl, and Laya overheard it on my phone, and she’s like, “Mommy, that’s Taylor Swift.” And I was shocked that she knew that she could recognize Taylor’s voice from music. She hasn’t even heard from her yet. And I was like, “Yeah, baby. That is Taylor Swift.” And she’s like, “I want to see.” So I pulled up the Fate of Ailia music video for her and I was just filming her dance to it. I film her do everything and she just looked at Taylor Swift and saw her and she goes, “That’s my friend.” And I was so shocked she said that. It took me a second to register what she said. I was like, “Did you just say she’s your friend?” And she’s like, “Yeah.” Was that the first time she had said that? Yes, that’s the first time she said it. And now every single time I play any Taylor Swift music or videos of her, she keeps saying it. She keeps going, “Taylor is my friend.” That sweet video went viral and even made its way to the Grammy winner herself, who then donated $100,000 to her GoFundMe. Caitlyn told Access she first learned of the massive donation from her husband, Tyler. My husband was actually at the airport to go back to North Carolina for a benefit for Laya that weekend and he had called me and said, “Taylor Swift just donated $100,000 to our GoFundMe.” And I just I didn’t know. I was like, “No, you’re kidding.” And he’s like, “No, I’m serious.” So, I’m scrolling my phone trying to find the donation. Like, tears are welling up in my eyes. And once I saw it and I saw her message, I knew that it was real. like she had to have seen a video of her saying that Taylor Swift was her friend. Um, and I think I was in shock for I mean I’m still in shock, but I did not move for at least 30 minutes. I just kind of sat there with Laya and just started crying like, “Oh my gosh, this is real life.” She admits that at first she didn’t believe it was actually Taylor. The husband and I were on the phone with each other for over an hour like trying to debate like is this real? Is this not real? Like as who else has $100,000 to give us? Like GoFundMe is a protected site. We’re trying to like figure out like I’m Google searching. Can GoFundMe be scammed? Like can someone pretend to be somebody? Like trying to, you know, do all this stuff. Uh but then my husband saw it come through on the back end. He has a separate page where he can see each donation get processed. And as soon as he saw that amount go through the processing, he’s like, “No, this is real. This money is going to be in our account.” And I just was like, I gotta say thank you. I’m like, even now, Caitlyn tells Access she still can’t believe that one Tik Tok had such an impact. Never. I when I posted that video, I mean, I have had a social media account forever. So, like when I posted that video, I was just sharing a little bit of Llaya with the world. I never thought anything would come of it. People are tagging Taylor in the comments like crazy. And I kind of just laughed about it. I was like, “People really think Taylor’s gonna see this?” I’m like, she has so many other things to do than watch my video. Uh, so it was truly a shock when I saw that donation come in and I saw the note with it. I just was so overjoyed that she had even seen our video. That was just it means the world to me that she has seen Llaya. Like it mean it’s so cool. It’s so special. Taylor’s donation actually started a ripple effect encouraging more Swifties to support Laya. When Taylor donated, I really thought that was going to be the end of the craziness. I didn’t expect this whole wave of donations to come through to from the Swifties and that was truly like so mindboggling. They have succeeded matching Taylor’s donation. Now we have almost $350,000 in our GoFundMe. I can’t even believe I’m saying that. As of October 24th, the family has raised $347,000 on GoFundMe. And Caitlyn says she is extremely thankful for everyone’s support. I’ve I’ve said thank you to the whole community over and over again. Like I am just so appreciative of every single person that has seen our story, who’s shared our story, and who has donated to our family. It it truly means the world to us. The family has since posted a Tik Tok video thanking Taylor, but hasn’t heard directly from the pop star or her team yet. But Caitlyn says she doesn’t expect to hear anything from the singer. And although Laya doesn’t fully understand just how cool it is that Taylor sent them a donation, Caitlyn says she can now fully reassure her daughter that Taylor Swift is her friend. So Laya’s two. She doesn’t really fully understand our situation. She doesn’t know everything that’s going on. So the next time that when I was filming the video to like say thank you, I had Fade of Ailia playing up in the background on YouTube and she saw the picture of Taylor again and she goes, “Taylor Swift, that’s my friend.” And I was like, “Yeah, baby. Taylor is your friend. You’re right.” And so now I just keep affirming her that she’s right. Taylor is her friend. As for how Laya is doing now, Caitlyn says her little girl is full of energy. Right now it just feels like normal life cuz we’ve been in it now for eight months. Um, daytoday we’re very happy. We’re very positive family. Obviously when I think about the reality of our situation, I get very upset. I want Yayla to be here with us. I want her to have a long and happy life. But I know that that is a really strong chance that might not happen. So, I get sad when I think about that. But Laya is doing so well. She acts like a normal 2-year-old. As you can see, she’s running from the room. She’s like, she cannot be stopped. This girl has so much energy, even for getting sedated every day. She’s going through radiation right now, which is supposed to make kids tired, but she is like the opposite. She is running the hall. She is climbing up on top of things. She loves playing at the park. So her positive spirit and her attitude being so you know rambunctious and joyful really helps us as a family maintain that positive spirit. [Music]

Katelynn Smoot and her 2-year-old daughter Lilah got the gift of a lifetime courtesy of their “friend” Taylor Swift. The pop star quietly donated $100,000 to Lilah, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after suffering a seizure when she was 18 months old. Lilah’s mom Katelynn spoke to Access Hollywood about that massive donation and revealed if she’s spoken to the pop star since. She also gave an update on how Lilah is doing.