Months before Sydney Towle’s death, the content creator shared the message she would’ve liked to tell people in her final video.
On Aug. 6, the 26-year-old’s family announced that she had died the day before after a battle with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer that forms in the group of tubes, called ducts, that connect the liver, gallbladder and small intestine, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Towle’s had been diagnosed three years ago, and began sharing her journey on social media.
In November 2025, she appeared on journalist Danielle Robay’s “Question Everything” podcast for an episode titled “Too Young for Cancer: Sydney Towle on Fighting for Her Life at 25.”
In the resurfaced clip after her death, Robay asked Towle if today was her last day on Earth, what would she tell people? What would she want them to know? Towle said she had been thinking about that question and what she’d want people to know long after she was gone.
“I’ve actually thought about this before,” she said. “Like, if I were to make one more video, what would I say and it was my last video?”
“I think I would just remind people … to treat people with kindness,” she continued.
“That is literally the biggest thing that I could tell anyone,” Towle added. “Just treat people with compassion, empathy and treat people the way that you want to be treated.”
And while she expressed that it “sounds so cliché” and it’s a “common saying,” she added, “We never know what someone is going through.”
“And if you could spread, like, a little bit of kindness, a little bit of positivity goes such a long way for someone else and it could make their day, their week,” she said. “That’s the thing that I would always tell people.”
In the Instagram post announcing her death, Towle’s family called her “an endless ray of sunshine.”
“We will always love you so much Sydney. I am so proud of how hard you fought. I love you,” they added in the caption.
In a statement to TODAY.com, her family added that they are so proud of how hard she fought amid her cancer battle and “for sharing her journey with so many people.”
“She wanted to raise awareness for rare cancers and was passionate about promoting self-advocacy. We will continue her legacy and honor her in every way we can,” they concluded.
In a November 2024 interview with TODAY.com, Towle detailed her cancer diagnosis, as well as the chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments she underwent.