Support Kennedy Mayer's Dream of Seeing Taylor Swift

My daughter, Kennedy Mayer, age 10, a huge Swiftie and avid dog lover, almost lost her life back in April due to complications from the flu.

Diagnosed with influenza B on March 23rd, she was starting to get better until she began complaining of eye pain on Sunday, March 31st. The next day, her eyelid was starting to look bruised and swollen, and within only a few short hours her body was in septic shock. The next day, she was intubated and was essentially put into a medically-induced coma. She was transferred from our local hospital to C.S. Mott's Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, and by April 4th, they were able to pinpoint the cause of the eye infection; necrotizing fasciitis; a deadly flesh-eating bacteria.

Kennedy was rushed into surgery with her favorite Taylor Swift song; Wonderland, playing in the background on a nurse’s phone. Due to Kennedy being in multiple-organ failure, we said goodbye to our girl for what we thought at the time would possibly be our last. After praying over her with my husband, I whispered to Kennedy that if she could make it through the surgery, I would do whatever it took to get her to a Taylor Swift concert.

Not only did she pull through the surgery, but she continued to make it through a total of eight surgeries, including a skin graft surgery to cover the large cavity in her face from where the necrotizing fasciitis was removed.

Kennedy would go on to spend 52 days in the hospital, with about 20 of those being in the PICU. Kennedy’s room was decorated to the max with Taylor Swift-related items, and she would fall asleep every night to her music. The hospital staff was amazing at incorporating all things Taylor into Kennedy’s recovery, including her physical therapy and musical therapy. They decorated her room special for the release day of TPPD, made her numerous friendship bracelets, and even surprised her with a karaoke party. To say that Taylor Swift was a huge part of Kennedy’s recovery would be an understatement.

The closest Eras Tour stop to us would be Toronto, Canada, and I have looked at tickets several times since April. The cheapest tickets are around $2,000 EACH and that is for an obstructed view. Anything decent would cost around $6,000 to $7,000, plus travel costs.

We have a goal of $8,000:

Two tickets: $7,000

Hotel for two nights: between $500-700

Gas, food, and merchandise: around $500

I would love to hold true to this promise that I made her, but during this time we also had our only car stolen and damaged, and we have had several other medical-related expenses. Any extra monies we have tried to save for concert tickets have been depleted.

If you are not able to contribute financially, we completely understand, but we ask that you react and share this post to help this to go viral and make Kennedy’s dream a reality.