How Taylor Swift fans will honor Ronan, 'a beautiful boy who died,' at Philly concert

For most Swifties, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Philadelphia on May 12 marks the launch of her three-show stop in her home state — her first time returning to Lincoln Financial Field in five years.

For a select group of fans, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate “a beautiful boy who died” in 2011 and would’ve turned 16 years old on May 12 this year.

Those are the lyrics from Swift’s 2012 charity single, “Ronan,” which was inspired by the blog posts that Maya Thompson wrote about her third child, her son Ronan. He’d fought a nine-month battle with Stage 4 neuroblastoma and died days before his fourth birthday.

In honor of the occasion, Thompson plans to celebrate “Ronan’s Day of Love” with fellow fans on Night 1 of the Philadelphia shows.

The Eras Tour: Five magic moments from her first concert in five years

Celebrating Ronan's Day of Love on Ronan Thompson's birthday

“May 12th is Ronan's Day of Love, a special day I have chosen to celebrate in honor of what would have been Ronan’s sixteenth birthday," Thompson tweeted. "For the past eleven years, I have been doing random acts of kindness for others as a way of honoring his memory and keeping his spirit alive.

"It is my way of making a positive impact in the world. I hope you will join me on this day by being extra spicy, sparkly, and selfless.”

On her blog, she asked fans to "perform a random act of kindness to brighten someone’s day. Hug with all your might, kiss with all your heart and laugh out loud."

Taking inspiration from some lyrics off Swift’s latest album, “Midnights,” — “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it/ You've got no reason to be afraid” — some concertgoers have made bracelets with Ronan’s name to wear or share with others. Thompson also shared a video of herself making one.

In a letter to her late son that she shared on her blog, Thompson wrote that in an effort to do "something extra special" for his sweet 16, her family set up the Ronan Thompson Nurse Navigator Fund at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Cancer Center, where Ronan was once a patient.

"CHOP provides exceptional patient care, and the Nurse Navigators play a crucial role in supporting patients and their families as they navigate the complexities of cancer care," Thompson explained in a separate blog post.

The story behind Taylor Swift's 'Ronan'

Swift and Thompson’s relationship was born “because of the worst possible reason,” Thompson told The Arizona Republic in March. But Swift — who never met Ronan in person — “took so much of my pain and turned it into the most beautiful thing,” as Thompson wrote in an Instagram post after seeing Swift perform in May 2018.

Unbeknownst to Thompson, Swift was reading Thompson's Rockstar Ronan blog “every night” over a decade ago, as the singer said during her 1989 Tour stop in Glendale, Arizona, in 2015. The two met for the first time in October 2011, when the Maya, her now ex-husband and their twin sons, Liam and Quinn, were invited to Swift’s Speak Now Tour.

A year later, Swift called Thompson out of the blue.

“I wrote a song for Ronan,” Swift told Thompson, according to Thompson’s blog post. She asked for permission to perform it on national TV and show a photo of Ronan. Later, she debuted it during a Stand Up to Cancer program in September 2012 and credited Thompson as a co-writer.

Swift has only played the emotional single live twice — in the televised fundraiser and during her 1989 Tour stop in Arizona, where the Thompson family lives — but gave the song “a permanent home,” as Thompson told The Arizona Republic, when she re-recorded her fourth studio album, “Red,” in 2021 and included “Ronan” as Track 21.

Here’s the last time Taylor Swift performed ‘Ronan’ live

Maya Thompson told The Republic in March that she still gets goosebumps when she thinks of the first time she heard “Ronan” performed live in August 2015.

Swift introduced the song to the crowd at Gila River Arena (now known as Desert Diamond Arena) while strumming a guitar and revealed that she felt more of a kinship with Thompson since her own mother’s cancer diagnosis.

“One of the bravest things a human being can ever do is to go through something absolutely unbearable and then share their experience with the world. There’s a woman tonight here named Maya Thompson, and she has lived in this area and brought her kids up in this area, and I wouldn’t know half as much as I know about childhood cancer and childhood cancer research if she hadn’t shared her story about her son, Ronan,” Swift said.

She asked her fans to give Maya a round of applause and shared that she wanted to “try to play this song. I can’t promise that I will sing it well or not get really emotional,” she said.

“But I’m going to try because the only other time I played this was on a show called Stand Up to Cancer, and I think that because Maya’s here tonight I think she deserves it because she co-wrote it for me.”

Thompson reflected on the experience in a blog post a few days later.

“I felt like I had the softest, safest blanket wrapped about me which can only be explained as being you. I felt you everywhere. I swear I felt your little hand inside of mine as Taylor’s angelic voice started to sing your song,” she wrote in August 2015. “I have not felt your presence so close to me since you were physically still here on this earth. It was absolutely one of the purest, most magical moments of my life.”

Hearing ‘Ronan’ live was ‘a once-in-a-lifetime thing’ for mom Maya

Before The Eras Tour launched in Arizona, Thompson told The Republic that some people were expressing their hope that Swift sings “Ronan.” (The 44-song setlist does not include the single, but there are two surprise acoustic songs plucked from her 10 albums and two re-records in each show.)

“I feel like that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And I'm so OK with that because it completely changed the dynamic and energy of the concert in, like, the most beautiful way,” Thompson said. “But it was also very tough. Of course, if she wants to, I'm open to that. But also if she doesn't, I'm not taking that personally at all.”

One fan suggested holding up paper hearts when Swift arrives at the end of the catwalk to play two surprise tracks after performing songs from the “1989” era. Another recommended that the crowd turns on flashlights “to make Maya and her family feel loved and supported” if Swift performs “Ronan.”

Ultimately, Swift did not perform "Ronan" on May 12, instead choosing "Gold Rush" and "Come Back...Be Here."

Here are the lyrics to ‘Ronan’ by Taylor Swift

These are the lyrics to “Ronan,” which Swift wrote and performed in a single that was released in 2012 and re-recorded in 2021.

"I remember your bare feet, down the hallway

I remember your little laugh

Race cars on the kitchen floor, plastic dinosaurs

I love you to the moon and back

I remember your blue eyes looking into mine

Like we had our own secret club

I remember you dancing before bed time

Then jumping on me waking me up

I can still feel you hold my hand, little man

And even the moment I knew

You fought it hard like an army guy

Remember I leaned in and whispered to you

Come on baby with me we're going to fly away from here

You were my best four years

I remember the drive home

When the blind hope turned to crying and screaming “Why?”

Flowers pile up in the worst way, no one knows what to say

About a beautiful boy who died

And it's about to be Halloween

You could be anything you wanted if you were still here

I remember the last day, when I kissed your face

And whispered in your ear

Come on baby with me we're going to fly away from here

Out of this curtained room and this hospital gray, we'll just disappear

Come on baby with me we're going to fly away from here

You were my best four years

What if I'm standing in your closet trying to talk to you?

And what if I kept the hand-me-downs you won't grow into?

And what if I really thought some miracle would see us through?

What if the miracle was even getting one moment with you?

Come on baby with me we're going to fly away from here

Come on baby with me we're going to fly away from here

You were my best four years

I remember your bare feet, down the hallway

I love you to the moon and back"

When Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version),” she posted lyric videos for each song, including one for “Ronan” that includes home video footage of the boy. Watch it below.

Reach the reporter at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Taylor Swift fans pay tribute to Ronan, the boy behind the song