“A miracle came just days before he passed away. At just 20 months old, our son had only verbalized one word. Dog. Yet, he responded to my wife and I as we laid over his crib, tears falling from our cheeks, expressing our love for him. With absolute perfect clarity, our little boy looked up at us. I held him for the last time. I crave his smile. I miss seeing his eyes light up.”
‘With perfect clarity, our 20-month-old looked up at us. ‘I love you.’ It was a miracle days before he passed.’: Father recalls tender moment son diagnosed with childhood cancer shocked parents, ‘Those words are forever etched in my memory’
‘We need to make her soup so she feels better!’ I had to explain to my 5-year-old his sister was going to heaven.’: Mom loses daughter to Neuroblastoma, ‘we will never forget our brave, beautiful warrior’
“I watched her breathe so slowly. ‘It’s okay to go now. You won’t be in pain anymore.’ At 9:14 p.m. she took her last breath. Her brothers cuddled her one last time and said their final goodbyes. There’s something about seeing your 5-year-old carrying a tiny little casket that will break your heart and make you so proud all at the same time. He was always holding his little sister, even in death.”
‘All done?’ she whispered in my ear. ‘No, sweet baby. This is just the beginning.’: Mom of 8 learns of daughter’s cancer diagnosis day after adoption finalized, husband leaves, ‘How was this my life?!’
“The very next day, our teeny little 21-month-old baby girl was diagnosed with leukemia. She was close to death. I watched the terror in her face as she was strapped down. She couldn’t see me, didn’t know I was right behind her. I wrapped her up in my arms. Another major bomb hit our family. My marriage fell apart. I was left single parenting. People say they could never do what I do, but I didn’t have a choice.”
‘Help me, mama. Pleeeease, help me!’ Covered in sweat, he escaped the doctors. That was it! I was DONE.’: Boy beats cancer 3 times, loses vision, ‘he wasn’t supposed to survive his first day’
“The doctor looked me square in the eye. ‘Brain tumor.’ WHAT?! I looked at my baby playing with Tonka trucks. ‘I’m sorry, but I think we both knew it.’ WHAT? Are you freaking kidding? No, I didn’t! I sat in the pre-op area signing consent forms. I wrote in large letters, ‘NO STUDENT OR RESIDENT IS TO TOUCH HIM.’ Never again was I going to just accept what a doctor said without question.”
‘Mommy, I’ve been scared to say this, but I have a big bump on my chest.’ I lifted her shirt. Sheer horror!’: 8-year-old girl diagnosed with breast cancer after both parents beat cancer, ‘we are a family of fighters’
“There it was. A hard lump directly under her right nipple. ‘Honey? Please come here a minute.’ My husband and I exchanged a look of fear. It was so dark you could see it through her skin. We just hugged and bawled. ‘Not our baby girl,’ we both kept saying. ‘Mommy, what’s wrong?’ Her sweet face changed.”
‘I’m so sorry I can’t take this away.’ He looked up at me with absolute perfect clarity. ‘It’s okay.’: Parents ‘astonished’ by infant son’s miraculous response, lose him days later to rare brain tumor
“We stood in astonishment. Prior to this, he’d only known how to say one word: ‘Dog.’ My wife and I leaned in to tell him we loved him. He looked up again and said, ‘I love you.’ We held his little hand, his little frail body in my arms, and begged him to visit us. I asked him to watch over his siblings. We put him in the black Suburban, and watched them drive away.”
‘Her stomach looks too bloated.’ Her pediatrician agreed. ‘It does feel hard.’ I got scared.’: Mom witnesses ‘miracle’ after newborn’s cancerous tumor shrinks, says fighting neuroblastoma teaches you ‘you’re never guaranteed another day’
“I noticed her stomach seemed very bloated, especially on one side. I asked family members to take a look – no one was concerned. The oncologist asked lots of questions, but one stopped us in our tracks. ‘Has anyone in your families had cancer?’ I looked at my husband, and he looked at me. In that moment, we both knew what she was about to say. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She had tears in her eyes.”
‘The cancer unit? How’d this go from ‘Hawaii 5-0’ to ‘Fighting-4-Life’ in 24 hours? This can’t be right.’: Dad insists he’ll be ‘taking my family to the top, whatever it takes’ despite infant daughter’s Down syndrome diagnosis, then cancer battle
“‘I will not be leaving her side,’ I responded in the clearest daddy-bear tone I had. Dad’s on guard. It was the look in the new doctor’s eyes that told me, I needed to go. I kissed my perfect baby girl goodbye. I’m the bug being drawn into the glowing light of the bug-zapper. Like a true ‘lamb-to-the-slaughter’ walk.”
‘My son sat on the sidelines, on hospital floors, watching his sister deteriorate. HE suffered, silently.’: Mom praises son for being ‘unsung hero’ during little sister’s battle with Ewing’s Sacroma
“At 10, Gabriel was thrust into a world of hospitals, procedures, and more pain fathomable. He watched his sister get all the affection, attention, and gifts. He lay on hospital floors next to her, hardly able to sleep, then awoke for school in the early mornings. He watched her deteriorate, not being able to help his sissy, not expressing his feelings…keeping it all inside.”
‘Mommy, I did that.’ There was blood in the toilet. ‘Has someone touched you?’ Suddenly, she’s screaming in pain.’: Mom mistakes daughter’s cancer symptoms for ‘abuse, menstruation,’ says she’s taught her ‘bravery, strength’
“I originally thought it was just my sister’s ‘time of the month.’ We rushed to the emergency room only to be told, ‘She needs an ultrasound ASAP.’ Things started to get serious. Jokingly, I said, ‘Emma, looks like you have alien monsters in there.’ Turns out, we were right. It was cancer. Before we knew it, her beautiful, red, curly hair was falling out.”
