Sydney Towle Says Cancer Spread to Peritoneum at 26
Sydney Towle said her cholangiocarcinoma has spread to her peritoneum, adding a new stage of progression to the rare bile duct cancer she has faced since age 23. The 26-year-old social media influencer and content creator shared the update after several days in the hospital, speaking from a fight now centered on an experimental clinical trial.
“I know that it’s not great right now, but I still have hope,” Towle said in recent TikTok videos, where she appeared with a nasogastric tube. She also said, “You can do a lot of things with hope,” a line that captures how much of her treatment is now tied to the lab work behind the trial.
Towle’s 80 Per Cent Trial Chance
Doctors surgically removed part of one of her tumors earlier this year so researchers could isolate immune cells in a laboratory. Those lab-grown immune cells are being studied in hopes of developing a personalized cancer treatment for Towle, and she said doctors told her there could be an 80 per cent chance the lab succeeds in developing cells suitable for treatment.
That number gives the trial its edge: the plan is not a standard course of care, but a bespoke attempt to build treatment around her own immune response. For a patient already dealing with spread to the peritoneum, that makes the trial less of a side note than the main medical bet.
Peritoneum Metastasis and No Obstruction
Doctors found cancer cells in her peritoneum, the lining of the abdomen and pelvis, which is known as peritoneal metastasis. Towle clarified that she did not have a bowel obstruction, cutting off the most alarming interpretation of the hospital stay while still leaving the spread itself as the central problem.
Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, develops in the thin tubes that carry bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine, and it is often difficult to detect early because symptoms may resemble other digestive disorders. Towle’s case has already moved beyond the first diagnosis at 23, and the recent spread shows how quickly the disease can change the terms of treatment.
Hospital Days and Next Steps
Several days in the hospital preceded her update, and the emotional videos made the scale of the setback plain without changing the plan she is still following. For readers tracking her treatment, the immediate next step is the same one that has defined the story so far: whether the experimental lab work can produce immune cells strong enough to be used against the cancer she is now carrying in her peritoneum.
Her latest comments leave hope as part of the medical strategy, not just the emotional one. That is the practical takeaway here: the disease has advanced, but the trial continues to shape what comes next.
