Zach Bryan stopped his concert in Melbourne, Australia on December 9 to help one young fan achieve a dream, granting the wish of a 4-year-old fan named Laylah Mitchem, who is currently being treated for leukemia.
Made Dreams Come True For 4-Year-Old Fan Battling Cancer
Laylah and her mom, Jess Tilley, came prepared to the show, bringing along a sign that Laylah held up for Bryan to see. The sign was designed as a to-do list that read, “4 YEARS OLD,” “MIDDLE OF CHEMO,” and “GO TO ZACH BRYAN,” all of which had their boxes checked off. The fourth box, left unchecked, read, “MEET ZACH BRYAN.”
Amid his performance, Bryan spotted the poster in the crowd and asked Laylah to come to the front of the stage, which she did with some help from the first aid ladies at the show. He spoke with the young fan before checking off the last box on the poster and signing it, making his way back on stage as the crowd cheered.
Jess shared the moment in a TikTok video, which currently has over two million views, and a caption that read, “Laylah’s dream fulfilled.”
4-Year-Old Fan Was In Shock And Full Of Excitement
Jess told Music Mayhem that Laylah was “so happy throughout the first half of the concert, and although she’s 4 years old, she instantly went into excitement shock” when Bryan noticed her sign. “She was taken up to the front of the stage, where Zach Bryan then said, “Who is that? Hey, get up here’ to which Laylah was too shy in front of 30,000 people,” Jess recalled, sharing that her daughter “doesn’t remember exactly” what Bryan said to her “as it was loud, and she was in shock.”
“Instantly after she came back to me in the crowd, she wanted to go back up to him,” she said.
The Young Fan Is Battling Leukemia
Laylah was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year after Jess noticed that her daughter’s skin and lip color had changed and that she was looking “very pale.” Their local doctor sent them for blood tests, suspecting low iron, and less than 24 hours later they got a call asking them to go straight to the emergency department.
“This wasn’t what we were expecting,” she said, sharing that Laylah’s tests were redone to confirm leukemia and “from that day on we didn’t leave the hospital for a while and treatment started instantly.”
Laylah’s treatment “has been far from easy” and has included her having a gastric nasal tube put in for her oral medication, chemotherapy and numerous blood and platelet transfusions.
“Chemo has taken a toll,” Jess said of her daughter. “She’s very weak and tired from treatment with lots of other side effects being vomiting, hair loss/thinning, loss of balance, always falling over and hurting herself, emotional, mouth ulcers, high temperatures and the list goes on.”
Admits The Show Was A “Big Risk” To Attend
Explaining that attending Bryan’s show “was a big risk” due to the large crowd size and “lots of germs,” Jess said that she “was stressed about being pushed in the crowd with her cancer port in the side of her body” and her mind “was so overwhelmed as she has had the roughest few months of her life and spent a lot of time in hospital.”
After Bryan’s interaction with Laylah, she shared that she “knew we had made the right decision, as the happiness Zach gave to Laylah was & will forever be unexplainable.”
Jess added that her daughter’s favorite Bryan song is “Something in the Orange,” “although she’s obsessed with all his songs and will listen to them on repeat.”
Zach Bryan Reflects On His Time In Australia
Bryan reflected on his time in Australia with a post on Instagram, sharing a video of himself on stage as the crowd sang along with him. “One of the most surreal weeks of my life,” his caption read. “Thank you, Australia, for welcoming my boys and me with open arms. Be back soon.”
The singer will end the year with a performance at Wild Horses Festival in San Diego on December 30 before launching his expansive The Quittin’ Time Tour with three dates in Chicago in March.
