CANCER

TikTok Star Sydney Towle Dies At 26. Here Are The Bile Duct Cancer Symptoms Doctors Say Are Easy To Miss

08.07.2026 // 1 MIN READ // Vitals

Key points

Influencer Sydney Towle died August 5, 2026 at age 26, three years after being diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer, at stage four when she was just 23.
Early bile duct cancer often causes no symptoms or vague ones like nausea and appetite loss; as it progresses it can cause jaundice, itching, dark urine, pale stools, and unexplained weight loss.
About 2,200 people in England are diagnosed with bile duct cancer annually; it's classed as rare and doesn't typically run in families, according to Liver Cancer UK.

TikTok star Sydney Towle died August 5, 2026 at age 26 after a three-year battle with an aggressive, rare form of bile duct cancer that wasn't caught until it had already reached stage four.

Why it matters

Because early bile duct cancer symptoms are vague or absent, doctors say persistent, unexplained symptoms like fatigue, itching, or abdominal pain spreading to the back are worth flagging to a physician rather than dismissing as everyday illness.

What to watch

Towle's family and followers, who watched her document her treatment on TikTok and in personal essays, are remembering her as 'an endless ray of sunshine' as awareness of the disease's symptoms spreads in the wake of her death.

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Sources

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