Swiftie who received Taylor Swift's hat at Cincinnati Eras Tour show dies at 16
A 16-year-old Taylor Swift super fan who received a gift from the pop star during Swift's Eras Tour stop in Cincinnati this summer has died after five years of battling cancer.
Ally Garner Anderson was diagnosed with stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, in 2018. She died Nov. 13, according to People Magazine.
The Sunbury, Ohio, native attended the July 1 show at Paycor Stadium, where Swift danced down to the front of the stage and handed her the black hat that's part of the singer's "22" outfit.
The brief moment changed Ally's life, her mother, Patty Garner Anderson, told People.
"I hadn’t seen Ally smile and laugh like that in a very long time," her mom said.
The day after the concert, Ally posted her mom's video of the special exchange on TikTok.
"No words to describe what it felt like to be pulled from my seats to the floor. I knew immediately. Taylor was my first concert so many years ago. Honestly such a full circle moment," she wrote in the TikTok's caption.
Ally was a longtime Swift fan, her mother told People. The teenager's first concert was the singer's 1989 World Tour in 2015, when she was 8 years old.
Patty, who describes her daughter as "kind, loving, fierce," told People that Swift's music "brought light to Ally’s life" during her daughter's years-long battle with cancer. She added that Swift's songs were all her daughter listened to, "when she was still able to shower, when she was organizing her room, when we drove anywhere."
Ally even had a tattoo on her left forearm that read "And if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow," lyrics from Swift's song, "The 1."
The teen also made connections with other Swifties battling childhood cancer, which gave her "an escape and a sense of belonging," according to her mom.
After the Eras Tour concert, Ally and her mom met Swift's mother, Andrea. Patty hopes she can one day thank Taylor and Andrea for granting her daughter such a special moment.
Ally died on Nov. 13, and her mother believes there is something special in the timing, she told People.
"As you know Taylor Swift’s favorite number is 13. Ally died on 11/13/23 at 13:40. The 13th day during the 13th hour.”