Blayke Vandusen is one of Taylor Swift’s biggest fans. Like many, the 12-year-old tried long and hard to secure tickets to the Eras Tour concert. When she walked up the steps to BC Place to try to win tickets, little did she know that an incredible surprise was waiting for her.
On Thursday morning, Blayke was surprised by Rogers Communications with two tickets to the Eras Tour finale in Vancouver. Her mom, Cassandra Vandusen, worked alongside Rogers to pull off the exciting surprise.
“We had come up with a plan, and so we told her that there was going to be a costume contest to try to win tickets down at BC Place,” said Cassandra. “We went down there, and she was very confused because when we showed up at the Terry Fox Plaza, there was nobody there.”
Submitted
Blayke and her mom handmade a custom dress inspired by Swift’s latest album to win the “costume contest.” The mother and daughter replicated one of the popstar’s outfits from the tour: a white dress adorned with Swift’s lyrics, “Who’s afraid of little old me?”
When Blayke arrived and saw the camera crews waiting for her alongside the sign reading, “You have entered your ticket-winning era,” she was absolutely shocked.
“I don’t think she knew what was happening. I think it took a minute to hit her. She was kind of in shock and didn’t know what to say. [She] was looking around like, ‘What is happening?’” shared her mom, Cassandra.
According to a Rogers spokesperson, Blayke caught their eye after many people forwarded a moving video that the Vandusens created about Blayke’s story.
Blayke was born with a rare chromosomal disorder called Turner syndrome and has been in and out of BC Children’s Hospital her entire life.
Turner’s syndrome is a disorder that affects females, where one of the X chromosomes is missing. It can cause a series of severe health problems, and Cassandra shared that Blayke has undergone multiple serious surgeries on her “whirlwind of an adventure.”
“She’s faced a lot of different struggles, and so she’s faced a lot of adversity,” Cassandra said. “It comes with heart abnormalities, so Blayke’s had two heart surgeries. She’s had multiple surgeries, just like a lot of little things here and there. She’s had a weakened immune system over the years, and so with anything that happens, if she gets a little cold or anything, it can always turn into something quite drastic.”
Submitted
The video that grabbed the attention of Rogers and won the tickets was a moving story documenting what Blayke has been through and how much it would mean to her to see Taylor Swift’s concert.
“We just made a little video of Blayke now and how strong she is versus everything she’s kind of gone through and that she can still do everything with a smile,” said Cassandra. “Then we put it to the song, ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,’ because I kind of think of that song as written for Blayke.”
Before creating the video that worked a miracle for the Swift megafan, the Vandusens had tried everything to secure tickets, from entering every single contest to penning a handwritten letter to Swift.
Submitted
Blayke shared that she loves Swift because “she writes songs about her own life and her friends’ lives.”
Now that she has secured her tickets for the Eras Tour finale, Blayke is deciding which era she wants to dress for when she attends the concert. Right now, the choice comes down to Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department.
Blayke’s mom, Cassandra, shared that she’s incredibly excited to take her daughter to the Eras Tour concert and that she knows it will be a special moment for the two.
“This will be Blake’s very first concert. She’s never been to one, and so I think that this will be a very special moment,” Cassandra said.
“It will just be mom and daughter at her idol’s concert for the first time,” she said.