Taylor Swift Comes through for Mt. Greenwood Girl Battling Cancer

There were the doubters, and then there were the tireless members of Emily’s Entourage.

Emily Beazley‘s supporters weren’t about to give up on convincing pop star Taylor Swift to reach out to their 12-year-old neighborhood hero.

Many said Taylor would simply be too busy with stardom and her upcoming world tour to even call the Mt. Greenwood girl who has battled cancer for four years. As days passed with no call, some began to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate on Taylor’s apparent lack of response.

And then—the phone rang.

“I CANNOT thank all of you and your efforts that you are ALL making to reach Taylor Swift,” her mother Nadia wrote in the Facebook group. “Taylor called Emily Beazley! !!!!! She just got off the phone with her. She couldn’t have been nicer. Emily has a smile from ear to ear!”

The call came as the family was returning from a radiation treatment, which doctors are using to ease Emily’s pain. She and Taylor chatted for about 10 minutes, covering topics such as Taylor’s music and tour, and Emily’s favorite song (“Shake It Off”). Emily said the singer “knew all about me,” including the street named in her honor.

The few minutes were the results of a community’s mission to make Emily’s dream of meeting the singer come true. Their plight stretched across celebrities’ Twitter accounts, radio shows, an online petition—even a video of kids dancing to Taylor’s songs. Some repeatedly called Taylor’s agent and staff, certain that if the fair-haired humanitarian heard of their Emily’s story, she would feel compelled to contact her. And the best part? They were right.

“She was just the sweetest thing,” Nadia said of Swift. Emily was starstruck, and Swift “really guided the conversation.

“It was amazing. A very personal conversation. She said how proud she is of Emily for fighting so hard.”

The phone call is the latest in a series of celebrations in honor of Beazley, who has been battling cancer since she was 8 years old. She was first diagnosed with stage-3 T-cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin lymphoma in April 2011. She finished treatment in July 2013. Since then, she has relapsed several times. Last August, her little sister Olivia donated stem cells but Emily relapsed again in January. Her family was recently told she will never go into remission.

Emily has aspired to meet Swift in person, but as her condition worsens, doctors fear she will not make it to the singer’s concert in Chicago this summer. In the end, some say it was US 99.5 radio personality ‘Ramblin’ Ray’ Stevens who made the call happen, but he was quick to shirk the credit. Emily would have loved to FaceTime with Swift or meet her in person, Nadia said, “but Emily is not the kid to ask for more.”

Once the call ended, Emily stepped out of her car, looked at Nadia with a smile spread across her face, and threw her arms around her.

“You should have seen her face,” Nadia said. “It was a smile I haven’t seen in the longest time. It was magical.”

Beazley then turned to Facebook to share the news with their daughter’s social media fanbase.

“I’m just sitting here thinking of how Taylor must have felt,” one supporter wrote. “Celebrity or not, it’s not everyday you get the opportunity to speak with a superhero.”

Read more about Emily:

• Emily Beazley and Younger Sister Olivia Named Honorary Chicago Police Officers
• ‘Emily’s Delight’ Doughnuts Flying Off the Shelves
• ‘Emily’s Day’: Community Comes Together for Tribute to Mt. Greenwood 12-year-old
• 12-year-old ‘Hero on Homan’ Inspires Southland