Luke Combs Matches $100,000 Donation To Childhood Cancer Research After Meeting 12-Year-Old T-Cell Leukemia Survivor

Luke Combs created an unforgettable evening for a 12-year-old T-Cell Leukemia survivor during his recent show at University Park, PA’s Beaver Stadium. 

The day of Combs’ April 27 show, the young girl named Jocelyn and her parents were approached by Samuel Weidenhofer, a video creator who has gone viral for his random acts of kindness. He informed the family that he was trying to get to a concert but had lost his wallet and asked if they had a few dollars to spare. Without a second thought, the young girl hands the stranger $10 with a proud smile on her face.  

When Weidenhofer asked why she decided to give up her own money to help him, she said, “because I had Childhood Cancer and now I like to give back to people.” 

What Is Jocelyn’s Story?

According to her Instagram, which documents her health journey, Jocelyn was diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of 7 on September 6th 2019. Her 2 1/2 year battle involved chemotherapy, 861 days of treatments, 22 lumbar punctures, 112 port access, 3 bone aspirations, 21 blood transfusions, 126 days of steroids, 65 days inpatient, 11 different types of chemo and 7 chemo holds. However, throughout it all, she never lost hope and on January 11th 2022, she finally got to ring the bell and celebrate being cancer free. Although her recovery journey has not been easy, she has shown nothing but resilience and continues to make progress each day. 

Now, she has made it her mission to spread awareness about childhood cancer by sharing her story and raising money through lemonade stands, hot cocoa stands and many other fundraisers. While discussing all her hard efforts with the video creator, her mom revealed that she has raised “well over $100,000” for cancer research. 

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A post shared by Samuel Weidenhofer (@itssozer)

Gifted Tickets To See Luke Combs In Concert Plus A Meet And Greet

In return for her kindness, Weidenhofer gifted Jocelyn and her family tickets to see the Luke Combs concert that night. He also handed her a brand-new LX1 Little Martin guitar with a note on the back that revealed in addition to seeing the show, they would also be meeting the country star backstage. 

“This is awesome,” said Jocelyn with heaps of excitement. 

Her dad then jumped in to share his gratitude for the gifts that came to them after everything they have endured as a family. “Very touching, I can’t tell you. Words don’t express, we’ve been through so much.”

The next clip in the video shared to social media showed the moment Combs got to meet the family. He embraced the young girl in a warm hug, learned a bit about her journey and her efforts and proceeded to sing an acoustic rendition of her favorite song, “Fast Car” using the guitar she was previously given. 

Luke Combs Makes Extremely Generous Announcement During The Show

Later that night, the “Where The Wild Things Are” singer told his audience about the experience he had with Jocelyn and her parents before the show and their ongoing efforts to raise money for cancer research. He was so moved by the young girl’s bravery and her determination to help others that he announced he would match the $100,000 she raised and donate it to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Dare to Dream initiative program to help fund research to find cures for children fighting cancer. At the very end, we see Combs dedicate his cover of “Fast Car” to Jocelyn. 

In the days following, Jocelyn and her family took to socials to share how much this experience meant to them. 

“Thank you @lukecombs for your kind heart, generosity and helping me help find a cure for so many kids just like me fighting childhood cancer…We need more people like you in the world Luke Combs, you are making an amazing impact!”

“It Was A Complete Surprise”

Jocelyn’s mom later revealed in an Instagram post that Samuel had reached out to her after hearing about their story. He was so touched that he contacted Luke Combs’ team and organized every detail from the concert tickets, to the new guitar and even the meet and greet.

“We told Jocelyn she was flying out to Pennsylvania to be a speaker at a childhood cancer event so it was a complete surprise. We were blown away with every detail and how incredible Luke and his whole team were with Jocelyn and our family 💛,” she wrote. 

Jocelyn shares even more about her journey with leukemia in her book, “My Life With Leukemia,” which has been distributed to various elementary schools.

Combs’ Biggest Show To Date

This dream-come-true visit with Luke Combs took place during as top on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour, which also happened to be his biggest show to date. According to a release, the superstar performed in front of 73,339 fans, marking the highest-selling and highest-grossing concert Beaver Stadium has ever seen. 

“Biggest show I’ve played in my life – over 80k people… Unbelievable. Thank you, State College, for a show we’ll never forget.”

Click HERE to find out where Luke Combs will be bringing his tour next.