Empowered Fan With Cancer Gets Onstage With Kenny Chesney and Removes Wig
In April, 22-year-old Alicia Porack was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She uses YouTube to post videos to share her journey in the hopes for it to be an outlet for her and to help others who might be suffering from the same form of cancer..
Two days after she went for chemotherapy treatment and shaved her head, Porack was supposed to attend a Kenny Chesney concert, but was apprehensive about attending.
"My friend Taylor was like we need to make you a sign. We want to get you on stage. Kenny Chesney brings people on stage all the time and I was like, 'No, no, no I don't want to do that. It's fine. I just want to go watch the concert,'" she tells WGRZ.
Porack's friends made a sign anyway — it read 'Beatin' Cancer' — and they hid it under a shirt to sneak it in.
"And Kenny Chesney saw it. And he was like, oh I see it, I see it and then after his encore he came over and kind of like pulled me up and it was just, it was unbelievable. He basically was like you're beautiful. You're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. Just keep doing what you're doing. You're a strong girl. I got offstage and everyone around me was crying and it was just, it was amazing," Porack says with a big smile.
She took her wig off right before jumping up on stage with Chesney. It was the first time her friends had seen her without it.
"That moment where I took it off and went on stage in front of all those people, it was one of the most empowering moments that I've ever had," the fan adds. "It was almost just like I don't care what people think of me. It is what it is. Like what do I have to hide at this point? So it was, for as hard as it was, it was so empowering and it was, I'm very, very happy that I did it."
Porack will finish chemo in September. Her friends have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help her with medical expenses.
Surf’s Up! Check Out Kenny Chesney’s Best Beach Pictures
How Well Do You Know Kenny Chesney? Find Out!