Sydney Towle walked in Miami Swim Week months earlier than dying

Walking the runway at Miami Swim Week when you’re not a professional model takes bravery. For influencer Sydney Towle, even more so.

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 brand for women who’ve undergone reconstructive surgery.

Before taking the spotlight in a purple two piece, Towle, who had been an open book throughout her illness, told People the reason she put herself out there.

“I think I always want people to feel when they see my videos — or see me posting in a bikini or modeling in a bikini — that no matter what you’ve been through, no matter the scars that you have, you are beautiful,” she said. “Our scars make you even more beautiful because it shows what you’ve been through and how strong you are.”

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG CONTENT

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.

“She didn’t get sad,” the fellow TikTokker told People. “She was very at peace. She was like, ‘OK, I understand,’ I think she had just been so exhausted up to that point that it is what it is.”

In an online Instagram homage, which included a picture of her atop a mountain in healthier times, her family wrote: “An endless ray of sunshine. A daughter, a sister, a friend to so many.”

Post Swim also shared a snapshot of Towle on the catwalk, all smiles.

“We are heartbroken to hear about the passing of our sweet friend, Syd,” the message said. “We are going to carry her words with us always, ‘Just keep on swimming.’”