As Sydney Towle graduated from Dartmouth College in 2022, she had an increasing jostling of social media.
On Tiktok, where she published videos, her fans watched her make dance movements in her kitchen and labial synchronization to popular songs. She shaped clothes and posed in bikinis on the beach. She gave in Europe with friends.
In less than a year, she was an entire influencer, with more than 450,000 subscribers.
But its content took a sharp turn in August 2023. In a pink bikini top, her face stained with tears, she spoke directly to the camera. “I have cancer,” she said. “I am strong, so I will be good.” She flashed and an awkward smile.
Her diagnosis, she said, was cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the bile ducts.
Ms. Towle’s publications on social networks have become more frequent and more personal, when she joined the ranks of influencers in what is known as Cancetok. She made videos of herself by exploring New York, where she said that she had moved to be close to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; struggling with exhaustion and nausea which it has attributed to chemotherapy; And cry in sorrow for the carefree life that she no longer led. And its growing online fans base – shortly after, it had more than 760,000 subscribers – regularly applauded it:
“We are all rooted for you girl !!!” A person posted on Tiktok. “Continue the right fight.”
“Your positive perspective through it all inspires me daily,” said another.
But on Reddit, in a more skeptical and caustic corner of the Internet, an army of angry criticism gathered.
