Deerfield TikTok Star Uses Platform To Help Kid With Brain Cancer

DEERFIELD, IL — In March, like many people, Abby Izaks was stuck in her house bored as her school was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 14-year-old Deerfield resident started making humorous and fun videos on TikTok. What started out as her "fame journey" quickly caught on as her dancing, gymnastics, makeup and creative transition videos blew up on the social media platform.

"I started the account as a little bit of a joke, just to see if I could get big," Izaks told Patch.

She definitely accomplished that and then some. To date, her page, @abbystiktokfamejourney, has grown to nearly 52,000 followers and her videos have received 1.6 million likes. Izaks tries to post at least one new video every day, sometimes more.

"I really like it. There is a lot of different things you can do on the app. There are lots of different kinds of videos," Izaks said.

Now, a freshman at Deerfield High School, Izaks discovered recently that she could use TikTok to help others. Through a mutual friend, her mother, Lauren, learned about the plight of Sloane Caston, a 3-year-old girl in Delray Beach, Florida, who is battling two forms of cancer. She needs a bone marrow transplant and her family is in a desperate search for a match that could save the little girl's life.

"Her cancer is very rare, and it's a brain cancer. She went through a grueling 52-week protocol of chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer was not detectable for a few months, but then it came back in her spine. We've been treating it pretty aggressively," said Marla Rossow, Sloane's aunt. "But, the whole time, Sloane is the picture of resilience. She is so happy."

Though Caston has a twin sister, she does not have a matching donor in her family. Those close to her and doctors are trying desperately to find a match and have turned to the media, Facebook, Instagram and now, Tik Tok, to try to encourage people to get swabbed and hopefully be a match.

Through her mother, Abby Izaks said she found out about Caston two weeks ago. On Oct. 3, she posted a video to TikTok with information about the little girl. In the video, Izaks dances to the song, "Glorious," by Macklemore, with links and hashtags dedicated to Sloane's fight.

As of Tuesday, the video had been viewed nearly 30,00o times with 10,000 likes and more than 3,000 shares. She said other TikTok users are helping spread the word by utilizing the platform's algorithm for getting videos on the "For You Page" of more people on the app.

"A lot of people that may not have been old enough [to qualify as a match for Sloane] said they were going to tell older people about it," Abby Izaks said.

Rossow said that, due to the coronavirus, running traditional bone marrow drives and other ways of getting the message out about Sloane are much more challenging. According to Rossow, the prime candidates for giving bone marrow are people between the ages of 18-35, with 70 percent of transplants coming from this age group. With many TikTok users falling in this age range, it seemed like the perfect place to go.

"With COVID, these kids are constantly online. For the influencers [on TikTok], you know the dances are cute, the comedy and all that stuff is great," Rossow said. "At a certain point when you start getting a large platform, taking some form of social responsibility, I think that with the world being filled with chaos, having a chance to do something good is really wonderful."

Abby Izaks made a second video about Sloane a few days ago.

"It makes me feel really happy and good that I know I can help with stuff like this," Abby Izaks said. "When I was asked to do it, I obviously said yes because I think it's really good that I can make a difference and help as much as I can."

Abby's mother has been impressed by the way in which her daughter has used the platform to do something so worthwhile. As Abby continues to grow more famous on TikTok, Lauren Izaks and her family keep an active eye on what gets posted. Lauren said she has a TikTok account on her phone to track comments on the app.

"Abby's safety is really important. Allowing her to have a public account as a 14-year-old with almost 52,000 followers is a little bit scary," Lauren Izaks said. "We make sure she gets approval on her videos. My family has 'right of first refusal.' If we see something that we think might be inappropriate, we'll have her take it down."

As of Tuesday, with the hashtag #sloanestrong, nearly $60,000 has been raised for Sloane Caston at the Gift Of Life website with 2,584 people getting swabs. To join the registry, "get swabbed," and to learn more, visit here.