STRATFORD, N.J. (WPVI) — She couldn’t make it to his prom, but country star Taylor Swift had another proposal for a New Jersey teenager battling cancer.
In a post on her Facebook page Friday afternoon, Swift asked 18-year-old Kevin McGuire of Stratford to be her date to the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 1st in Las Vegas.
Swift’s publicist confirmed to Action News that the post is legitimate.
The message reads:
Kevin, I’m so sorry but I won’t be able to make it to your prom. But I was wondering, the ACM Awards are coming up.. Would you be my date? Love, Taylor
Action News spoke with 18 year old Kevin McGuire by iPhone face time Friday night. He is understandably up in the clouds after learning that country music star Taylor Swift has made what seemed like a pipe dream, come true.
“I was totally just amazed,” said Kevin. “I didn’t even believe it at first, so it didn’t even seem real.”
This is culmination of a week of efforts that began online.
McGuire is currently being treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a relapse of the leukemia he was first diagnosed with five years ago.
The intense chemotherapy he’s now undergoing means he’ll go bald soon and he worried aloud to his big sister Tori that no one would want to go to the prom with a guy who has no hair.
“I said ‘What if I got Taylor Swift to go to the prom with you? His eyes lit up for the first time since he was diagnosed,” Tori told Action News on Thursday.
So Tori set up the “Taylor Swift take Kevin McGuire To Prom!” Facebook page.
The page went viral, and in just three days, got Taylor Swift’s attention.
Plus, #teamkevin was trending on Twitter – including tweets from football great Emmitt Smith, Adult Swim, Perez Hilton, and rapper Travie McCoy who wrote, “#TeamKevin let’s help this fella out guys!”
“I can’t believe it,” said Tori. “I’m from Stratford, New Jersey. Who knew that I could pull this off, that my community could pull together to make this happen.”
Tori also had t-shirts made with Swift’s picture asking her to “Make our Brother’s life!” And Taylor Swift is doing just that.
Kevin attends Sterling High School in Somerdale where he played football and was featured in 2010 on Channel 6’s High School Huddle show.
“Kevin is the kindest, most noble 18-year-old a person could even fathom meeting, and throughout his ups and downs Kevin never even questioned ‘Why me?'” Tori wrote on the Facebook page.
And to Kevin, Taylor Swift – a multi-time Grammy Award winner and Pennsylvania native – is the ideal prom date.
“Someone who’s confident, someone who will make me have a good time and not feel like a sick kid,” Kevin said.
“I guess you could say Taylor’s a good luck charm for me,” said Kevin.
That’s because McGuire also learned from his doctors that after intense chemo therapy, he is presently in remission. He got the news on Friday.
“Yes, I am in remission. I have no cancer cells in me, but I still have quite a ways to go for chemo therapy,” Kevin said.
“This has made his life, not just his day. Our shirts say ‘Make our brother’s life’, and that’s what she did,” said Tori.
The details are still yet to be worked out. The ACM Awards are in April.
So Tori set up the “Taylor Swift take Kevin McGuire To Prom!” Facebook page.
The page went viral, and in just three days, got Taylor Swift’s attention.
Plus, #teamkevin was trending on Twitter – including tweets from football great Emmitt Smith, Adult Swim, Perez Hilton, and rapper Travie McCoy who wrote, “#TeamKevin let’s help this fella out guys!”
“I can’t believe it,” said Tori. “I’m from Stratford, New Jersey. Who knew that I could pull this off, that my community could pull together to make this happen.”
Tori also had t-shirts made with Swift’s picture asking her to “Make our Brother’s life!” And Taylor Swift is doing just that.
Kevin attends Sterling High School in Somerdale where he played football and was featured in 2010 on Channel 6’s High School Huddle show.
“Kevin is the kindest, most noble 18-year-old a person could even fathom meeting, and throughout his ups and downs Kevin never even questioned ‘Why me?'” Tori wrote on the Facebook page.
And to Kevin, Taylor Swift – a multi-time Grammy Award winner and Pennsylvania native – is the ideal prom date.
“Someone who’s confident, someone who will make me have a good time and not feel like a sick kid,” Kevin said.
“I guess you could say Taylor’s a good luck charm for me,” said Kevin.
That’s because McGuire also learned from his doctors that after intense chemo therapy, he is presently in remission. He got the news on Friday.
“Yes, I am in remission. I have no cancer cells in me, but I still have quite a ways to go for chemo therapy,” Kevin said.
“This has made his life, not just his day. Our shirts say ‘Make our brother’s life’, and that’s what she did,” said Tori.
The details are still yet to be worked out. The ACM Awards are in April.
