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NAPA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 09: Sydney Towle attends The Business of Fashion Presents The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2025 at Stanly Ranch on June 09, 2025 in Napa, California.<\/p>\n
Frazer Harrison<\/p>\n
Getty Images for The Business of<\/p>\n
Walking the runway at Miami Swim Week when you\u2019re not a professional model takes bravery. For influencer Sydney Towle, even more so.<\/p>\n
Weeks before losing a three-year fight with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer, on Wednesday, the 26-year-old was defiantly strutting her stuff at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel. Towle was one of many participants in the May 28 show, a collaboration between The Chemo Club, a community uplifting cancer warriors, and Post Swim<\/a>, a brand for women who\u2019ve undergone reconstructive surgery.<\/p>\n Before taking the spotlight in a purple two piece, Towle, who had been an open book throughout her illness, told People<\/a> the reason she put herself out there.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I always want people to feel when they see my videos \u2014 or see me posting in a bikini or modeling in a bikini \u2014 that no matter what you\u2019ve been through, no matter the scars that you have, you are beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cOur scars make you even more beautiful because it shows what you\u2019ve been through and how strong you are.\u201d<\/p>\n WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG CONTENT<\/p>\n And even while entering hospice days before her untimely death, the Dartmouth graduate accepted her situation with grace, according to her older brother, Austin Towle.<\/p>\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t get sad,\u201d the fellow TikTokker told People. \u201cShe was very at peace. She was like, \u2018OK, I understand,\u2019 I think she had just been so exhausted up to that point that it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n In an online Instagram homage, which included a picture of her atop a mountain in healthier times, her family wrote: \u201cAn endless ray of sunshine. A daughter, a sister, a friend to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n Post Swim also shared a snapshot of Towle on the catwalk, all smiles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are heartbroken to hear about the passing of our sweet friend, Syd,\u201d the message said. \u201cWe are going to carry her words with us always, \u2018Just keep on swimming.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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