A teenage girl who attended the Eras Tour in Cardiff exactly eight months after starting her last cycle of chemotherapy said it was “amazing” to see Taylor Swift in concert after listening to the star through her cancer treatment.
Isabel Dockings, 17, told the PA news agency she underwent 14 cycles of chemotherapy for Ewing sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, after her diagnosis in February 2023 and used to listen to Swift with her nurses and put up posters of the musician around her hospital bed.
Isabel, whose cancer was in her legs, pelvis and lungs, said: “When I was going through treatment, I would talk to my nurses about Taylor. It was a really full circle thing to go from listening to her with my nurses to then actually being able to see all the songs live.”
Isabel, from Newport in South Wales, has been a fan of Swift since the release of the Red album in 2012.
She said: “I always had some posters up by my bed in hospital so I feel like it was a very known fact on the ward that I love Taylor so they were all very happy for me when they found out I got tickets and I was able to go.
“When I was in hospital I was usually in for quite a few days so it just gave it more of a homey feeling because in my room at home I have a lot of posters up.”
Isabel, who has been in remission since November, attended the Eras Tour in Cardiff on Tuesday night and she said seeing Taylor in person “doesn’t even feel real”.
“Quite a few of my nurses were at the show last night as well. We all got tickets and we would all be talking about our outfits and making bracelets together so it’s been really nice to have it with my nurses as well.
“I’ll probably go back up to the ward next week because they’ve all been so excited for me to finally be able to do it.”
Ahead of the concert, Isabel shared the news that she would be attending the show eight months after beginning her last cycle of chemotherapy and received a supportive response from other fans, known as Swifties, with her post gaining over 94,000 views.
One user commented “fellow cancer survivor here to say YOU ROCK! Have so much fun” while another said “cancer Swifties unite!!! So happy for you”.
Since her diagnosis, she “really sees the good in the world” as “everyone has just been so, so sweet about everything”, she said.
“Even yesterday, when we were chatting to people to trade bracelets, my mum would bring it up about how it was eight months to the day that I started my last cycle and everyone was just so lovely and I was tearing up,” she said.
Isabel said that being diagnosed with cancer was challenging but she is determined to remain positive.
“I do take a lot of the positives out of it because before I got diagnosed, I was so, so shy but since I was diagnosed, I’m so much more open and willing to do stuff,” she said.
“It was definitely difficult but I think I’ve had such a positive outcome with everything.”