A woman facing a cancer diagnosis reached out to CBS News recently with an unusual request: help her give away a night she could no longer have. For a 20-year-old college athlete, it turned into a night she won’t forget.
A viewer sent an anonymous note to me that said, “Back in January, I bought five tickets to take four of my closest friends to see Bruno Mars in New Orleans. Since then, two of us, myself and one of the friends I was bringing, have been diagnosed with breast cancer. And because of our treatment, neither one of us is able to go. So I would love your help finding someone who has just beaten cancer to send them for a night they will remember.”
So I had an idea. I reached out to the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, or FMOL Health, a nonprofit that runs hospitals across Louisiana. They had just the person in mind: Rylie Kuyper, a 20-year-old goalkeeper on Louisiana State University’s soccer team.
Kuyper was diagnosed last spring with stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and she went public about it on social media with a TikTok that has been viewed 33 million times.
“The only reason I posted it on TikTok was ’cause … this is the rest of my circle,” she said. “So instead of texting everyone individually, I’m just going to put it online. And if they want to reach out, they can. And then it blew up.”
Millions followed along as she documented seven months of radiation, and chemo, and everyday life — to give others hope.
I enlisted the help of her mom, Kelly, and a few weeks ago, after she finished chemo, her mom told her we wanted to interview her about beating cancer. It was then that we told her about a surprise trip to New Orleans with her friends to see Bruno Mars.
“I feel terrible that it’s under the circumstances of someone else having cancer and not being able to go, but I’m just, I’m really grateful that, I mean, I get to go,” she said.
Thanks to another anonymous donor, they were treated as VIPs on their trip to New Orleans.
Little did we know, her friends had decided to keep one part of the night a secret: how good the seats were.
All of this because a woman facing her own cancer fight gave away her night out so a stranger could celebrate winning hers.
Rylie expressed her gratitude, saying, “I know what you’re about to go through and for you to have the kindness to do something and donate it just meant a lot.”
