Key Points
Maya Thompson, whose son Ronan inspired a heartbreaking Taylor Swift track, shares how she remembers her son.
Ronan died at 3 in 2011 after a battle with stage 4 neuroblastoma.
Reflecting on the journey that Swift’s song has taken, Thompson recounts the “out-of-body experience” of hearing it live.
Maya Thompson is making new memories in honor of her son Ronan, whose 2011 death inspired a heartbreaking Taylor Swift song.
Ronan was 3 years old when he died on May 9, 2011 after a battle with neuroblastoma. Though it’s been 15 years since his death, Thompson said mourning her son has not gotten easier. But she has channeled her grief into celebrating his birthday, May 12, as what she likes to call “Ronan’s Day of Love.”
In an interview published Tuesday, Thompson shared that she uses the day to place cards with money, photos of her son, and handwritten messages.
“I took 50 random books and I just stuffed the cards and an envelope with $20. I [wrote], ‘Please take this money and buy yourself a book,'” she told PEOPLE. “Basically, it’s me taking the money I would’ve spent on him for his birthday and just putting out into the world for other people.”
Maya Thompson and her son, Ronan
Credit: Maya Thompson
She added, “That helps me get through his birthday. I’m just trying to put love out into the world for my little boy that died.”
During the early days of Ronan’s cancer treatment, Thompson began a blog to detail her family’s struggles as they processed her son’s battle with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Swift, an avid reader of the blog, invited Thompson to a concert in 2011 where they talked about her loss. Swift eventually revealed that she had penned a song for Ronan, inspired by Thompson’s blog posts, which she wanted to perform during the 2012 “Stand Up 2 Cancer” TV benefit.
The charity single took on a life of its own and was later re-recorded by Swift for Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021.
Reflecting on its inclusion on the album, Thompson said, “I felt everything so deeply because it was like he was finally getting a permanent home and he hadn’t had that before on this beautiful album. It felt like a dream. I was walking around in some dream I had made up in my head.”
She added, “I think about what that must have been like for her to actually go and re-record that song because it is such an emotional thing. She did it so beautifully. And again, I’m just absolutely honored that it made it onto her re-recordings of that album.”
Taylor Swift poses with Maya Thompson and her family
Credit: Maya Thompson
In addition to their personal connection, Thompson remains a big fan of Swift’s and attended her Eras Tour eight times throughout its extended run. Swift never actually included “Ronan” on her setlist throughout the global trek, which Thompson said was for the best.
“For me personally, I don’t think I could have handled that,” she admitted. “I don’t think it fit on that tour. That tour was so big… It was a party, and then to take that party and take it down to that level, I really don’t think it would’ve worked. I was so okay with that.”
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She did, however, get the chance to hear “Ronan” live in 2015, while attending the Arizona stop of Swift’s 1989 World Tour.
“Somebody from her team came over in the middle of the concert and just whispered to me, ‘Taylor wants to know if it’s okay if she sings ‘Ronan’ for you tonight,’ and I of course said yes,” she recalled. “That was, I think, a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing because I saw her, I believe, before that concert and she didn’t mention it to me then. It felt like an out-of-body experience.”
Thompson said she was holding the hand of Swift’s mother, Andrea, as they cried through the song.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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