A few months ago, Kevin McGuire, an eighteen year old who has cancer, ended up getting a date with Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, he isn’t well, and cannot go to the Country Music Awards with her, after all. His community is showing him a ton of support, in response.
Kevin McGuire was first diagnosed with cancer when he was thirteen years old. He is now eighteen, and continuing to battle the disease. Many teens have concerns about going to prom. Kevin was worried that he would not find a date for prom because he was going through chemotherapy, and believed that he would have lost his hair by then.
His sister wanted to help him, and knew that he was a big fan of Taylor Swift. She created a Facebook page called “Taylor Swift – take Kevin McGuire to Prom!”. News of this spread, and eventually reached Taylor Swift herself, who just so happens to have her own Facebook page. She responded to this request by posting the following onto the Facebook page that was created by Kevin’s sister:
“Kevin, I’m so sorry but I won’t be able to make it to your prom. But, I was wondering, the ACM Awards are coming up… Would you be my date? Love, Taylor”.
Of course, Kevin accepted. Taylor Swift arranged for him to have a tuxedo and shoes waiting for him, and she also arranged for airfare for him and his family, as well as for their hotel accommodations. Things were ready to go, but, whether or not it was going to happen depended on how well Kevin was when it was time to travel.
Unfortunately, Kevin needed to go through 25 hours of chemotherapy in the week leading up to the ACM awards. One side effect of chemotherapy is that it can drastically weaken a person’s immune system, and that is what happened with Kevin. He wasn’t able to have room visits. There was no way he could travel 2,500 miles to Las Vegas where the AMC awards would be taking place.
In response, Taylor Swift sent out this tweet:
“Just talked to Kevin McGuire. He’s not well enough to join me at the ACMs. Please keep him in your thoughts. I’ll make it up to you, Kevin!”
It seems as though this isn’t the end of the story with Kevin and Taylor. Several local restaurants also expressed support for Kevin. A restaurant called Richeez Italian Restaurant and Tavern planned a red carpet event that would charge a donation of $5.00 to benefit the McGuires. Fourteen local Applebees will be showing the Awards at their restaurants, and will donate 10% of the proceeds collected after 8:00 that night to the McGuires.
Image by Eva Rinaldi on Flickr
