Christa Rodriguez, 18, has the Philadelphia Flyers to thank for making her dream come true. Last night, the Flyers announced Miley Cyrus' originally scheduled April 22 concert was being moved up a day to accommodate the Flyers playoff schedule.
The cancer patient's doctors gave her the greenlight to attend the BANGERZ TOUR concert in Philadelphia next week.
"Me and my mom looked at each other and we were like -- YES!" said Rodriguez. "I'm so ecstatic because I thought I was't able to go."
The Upper Merion High School senior received a diagnosis in March around her birthday that the Hodgkin's Lymphoma she battled last year came back. Rodriguez is set to begin a second battle against cancer on April 22 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
She's feeling good about the twist of fate.
"It is really good news despite bad news with my illness going on," Rodriguez said. "It takes a lot more chemo to get rid of it because it came back and it’s much harder to get rid of. I’m now missing a lot of stuff with my senior year and I have to pull back from college."
NBC10 reached out to Rodriguez to let her know about date change last night. She was ecstatic to hear the news. Today, she asked her doctors if she could attend the concert and they affirmed her request. Rodriguez says she knows she will be tired the next day starting treatment, but attending the concert is worth it.
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Rodiguez admires Cyrus and "her willingness to be herself and to do what she wants despite what people think of her."
Last week, her twin sister Julia began a Twitter campaign to get Cyrus' attention to ask her to come to the hospital to visit Christa. Now that Christia will be able to attend the concert, the family is hopeful a meeting backstage is possible so friends are continuing the social media campaign using the hashtag #MileyVisitChrista.
Rodriguez will attend the concert with her sister and cousin and plans to dance all night to her favorite Cyrus songs --"Drive," "Rooting for My Baby," and "#GetItRight."
"It’s surreal right now that people I don’t even know are showing their support. It’s a great feeling. It’s very emotional. I feel like I have the best community in the world, especially in Upper Merion," said Rodriguez. "When you put your minds to something you can do it."
Contact Sarah Glover at 610-668-5580, sarah.glover@nbcuni.com or follow @skyphoto on Twitter.
