Girl who kept singing despite throat cancer dies at 19

Singer Carley Allison of Toronto, who died of cancer on March 31, 2015, is pictured in this undated photo.

A young woman who kept on singing despite surgery that left her with a hole in her throat has died at the age of 19, but not before inspiring countless strangers.

Carley Allison was in Grade 12 at Bayview Glen dress-shopping for her high school prom and applying to university music programs when her cancer was discovered.

Allison had an operation to remove a tumour that required a tracheotomy, a procedure that allowed her to breathe through a hole in her neck.

She told CTV Toronto at the time that it could affect her singing, and it did --- but not for long.

Allison learned to sing again and posted performance of One Direction’s “More Than This” to her YouTube channel.

The cover was viewed by tens of thousands of people, including singer Selena Gomez who Tweeted words of encouragement: “Love you! And praying for you. Keep singing.”

“I saw how many people had seen it and how many people it had brought to my YouTube account and people were like ‘Selena Gomez Tweeted this,’” Allison told CTV Toronto nearly two years ago. “And I thought, okay this is pretty cool.”

Allison touched even more people last November when sang the national anthem at a Toronto Maple Leafs game, eliciting cheers and a standing ovation. At the game, the announcer shared the news of her double-lung cancer.

Allison’s tumour had originally been diagnosed as a malignant melanoma but turned out to be a very rare and deadly form of cancer called clear cell sarcoma.

Allison’s uncle Paul Allison told CTV Toronto on Tuesday that Carley hadn’t given up hope. “Her attitude was, what do we need to do, when do we need to do it?”

Carley passed away on Tuesday at Princess Margaret Cancer Center.

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Dana Levenson