FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A generous gift from one mother and daughter to another brought a much-needed smile to a young Taylor Swift fan in Miami.
Eight-year-old Emoree Smith has been battling stage four alveolar metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma– an aggressive form of cancer for a few months, meaning lots of chemotherapy and regular trips to Broward Health Hospital.
“Music is our therapy,” said Emoree’s mother, Rashonda Coney. “We actually get in the car and we have concerts. We don’t care about who’s looking out from the other side of the vehicle.”
Emoree walked down the hall on Tuesday to get the surprise of a lifetime.
At first, she was confused as hospital staff yelled ‘Surprise!’ but it quickly turned to shock when one mother showed her tickets to see a Taylor Swift in concert in Miami.
“We heard you like Taylor Swift,” said Meena Daljitsingh who works in the pharmacy at the hospital. “Would you like to go to a Taylor Swift concert? Well, my daughter, Crystal over here has a little surprise for you. You know what this is?”
Applause and cheers filled the room as the young Taylor Swift fan received the tickets, just down the hall from where she was getting treatment.
“What is your favorite Taylor Swift song?” asked 7News’ Dannielle Garcia. “I know it’s so hard because she has so many good ones.”
“I like them all,” Emoree said.
“I was very grateful,” said Rashonda. “I actually have an older sister that was trying to find a way to figure out how she would get tickets and when I heard I was like I know how much these tickets are and what they mean to people.”
Crystal received the coveted tickets last year.
“So I entered, not really thinking that I would get in or anything like that,” said Crystal. “I ended up being picked as number 7,900 or something like that.”
After talking with her boyfriend, they later realized they’d rather give them to someone else. Those hard-to-get tickets could re-sell for thousands of dollars, but they instead decided to invest in a brighter cause.
“It would be so much better to donate it and give it to somebody who really wouldn’t have the opportunity to go anyway,” said Crystal. “And really make their entire year or life.”
Crystal and her mother said giving them to Emoree and her mother was a priceless experience.
“Everyone in the pharmacy knew I had these tickets, they’re like gold,” Meena said. “I’ve been telling everybody my daughter has these tickets. We don’t know what to do with it. So I told my manager, ‘Can you find somebody in the hospital who is physically able to go?’ If you can brighten someone’s day, then why not?”
Rashonda said going to the concert with her daughter will give both of them a sense of normalcy after these tough past few months.
“It gives her some normalcy,” said Rashonda. “It’s not the easiest thing, going through chemo. It’s not the easiest thing, to have such a thing. Especially at the age of eight. So I think her going to the concert is a slight bit of relief, allowing her to let everything out and just breathe and be herself.”
As for Emoree, should she get to meet Taylor Swift, she has one word to say to her:
“Hi!” said Emoree.
Emoree told 7News she would wear a blonde wig and the iconic red lipstick to the concert.
Now, the mother and her daughter will countdown the days until the Oct. 20 concert in Miami.
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