11-Year-Old Fan With Leukaemia Receives $50,000 From Taylor Swift

An 11-year-old girl in Arizona would miss Taylor Swift’s concert in August because of her ailment, acute myelogenous leukaemia, diagnosed on June 25. When the 25-year-old newly crowned Queen of Pop learned of the situation of fan Naomi Oakes, she helped the girl’s family on Tuesday with a donation of $50,000.

Naomi is expected to be confined in the hospital from six to nine months, which means she would definitely miss Swift’s concert in Phoenix on Aug 18. A concert ticket was supposed to be Naomi’s advanced Christmas present from her parents. However, the bigger concern of Naomi’s family is her medical bills which led them to set up a crowdfunding site, reports The Telegraph.

To cover the cost of treatment for Naomi – who has picked Swift’s new single “Bad Blood” as her battle song – her family hoped to raise at least $30,000. In the first two days since the site was opened, the family got $2,000 donation.

When the singer saw the Oakes family’s viral video – which had almost 400,000 hits in three days - she donated $15,000 thrice, plus $5,000 for a total donation of $50,000. Along with the money came a message from the singer to her sick fan which reads: “To the beautiful and brave Naomi, I’m sorry you have to miss it, but there will always be more concerts. Let’s focus on getting you feeling better. I’m sending the biggest hugs to you and your family,” quotes The Telegraph.

The incident confirmed that Swift is “the most charitable mega-watt popstar,” the daily points out. On the same day, Swift was recognised by the New York Post as the new Pop Queen, displacing Beyonce. And the reason behind the new title is Swift’s use of her Tumblr page to connect with fans like Naomi.

In contrast, the Post notes that Beyonce projects an untouchable image by using her Tumblr page “to post glassy glamour shots and slow-moving GIFs of her pouting.” Beyonce hides behind a glitzy façade and large dose of narcissism, which goes against the nature of social media which requires interaction.

Naomi’s ailment, leukaemia, is cancer of the blood-forming tissues in the body, which includes the bone marrow and lymphatic system. According to Mayo Clinic, treatment includes chemotherapy; biological, targeted and radiation therapies; and stem cell transplant.

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