Girl fighting cancer 'shakes It off' in Taylor Swift-inspired video

Lorelai Clubb finishes her breakfast before her bone marrow transplant in August. (Submitted)

A Cape Girardeau girl fighting cancer is the creator of a Taylor Swift-inspired video she hopes brings awareness to childhood leukemia and cancer.

Oh, and if Swift were to somehow take note, that would be pretty awesome, too.

Lorelai Clubb, who recently had a bone-marrow transplant and has shown good progress, captured the hearts of hundreds in Cape Girardeau.

In August, a school principal began a grassroots campaign to wear green in support of the 12-year-old on the day of her transplant. Hundreds of friends, schoolmates and friends and family participated in support. They flooded social media with photos of them wearing green, Lorelai's favorite color.

On Wednesday, Lorelai, with the help of the public-relations team at St. Louis Children's Hospital, released a video more than a month in the making.

The video was initiated from music therapy at the hospital, Lorelai's father, J.P. Clubb, said.

"They gave Lorelai a range of options to choose from, and she decided to try to make a music video, mainly for the fun of it," he said. "First, they had to come up with a concept for a video. Once they settled on that, Lorelai and the musical therapist spent a week rewriting the lyrics to the 'Shake It Off' song.

"Once they had the lyrics, a week later at a therapy session, they laid down the vocal tracks with Lorelai singing lead, the music therapist and the occupational therapist singing background vocals," he said.

J.P. Clubb said Lorelai and her mother had bought tickets for a Swift concert in St. Louis later this month, but Lorelai will be unable to go because of her health limitations.

Although she is recovering at her grandparents' house in the St. Louis area, she said she hopes the video will draw Swift's attention, and she might consider visiting other cancer patients at the hospital.

"I know it's easy to get cynical about sports figures or celebrities visiting hospitals to help enhance their image, but I can tell you firsthand that the emotional and mental boost it gives those kids is real," J.P. Clubb said. "The mere possibility that Swift might come visit has Lorelai so pumped."

Lorelai has maintained a positive attitude throughout her treatment. A Swift fan, she has used the term "shake it off" as a personal mantra to help keep her optimism.

But it has been a tough go. On one of her worst days, she asked her parents to take a photo with a sign that read, "And the verdict is ... cancer sucks."

She clearly was tired and sick in the photo, with dark circles under her eyes. Facebook posts and Caring Bridge messages described her as weak and with a lot of pain in her throat, which prevented her from eating much.

But her situation took a positive turn in recent days.

In the days after her transplant, her too-low and up-and-down blood count numbers prevented her from leaving the hospital. Suddenly, the numbers spiked, meaning her body was not rejecting the transplant. She was allowed to go home to her grandparents, though she needed to stay close to the hospital, just in case.

"So far, she's really doing so well physically," J.P. Clubb wrote in a message to the Southeast Missourian. "Her blood counts are going up, and I'm more optimistic than I've been in months."

bmiller@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3625