Battling cancer isn’t easy. But it is the hardest when you see your 5-year-old son battling with it.
Recently, this mom took to social media to share a heartwarming post on her 5-year-old son’s cancer battle, which would break your heart.
According to the reports, her four-year-old son Beckett was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) in April 2018.
While sharing a powerful picture of daughter comforting her brother after a chemotherapy session, Kaitlin Burge, the mother of two, added a powerful note on how childhood cancer impacts the whole family:
“One thing they don’t tell you about childhood cancer is that it affects the entire family.
You always hear about the financial and medical struggles, but how often do you hear about the struggles families with other children face?”
Sharing how her two kids struggled through the darkest phase of her son’s illness, she shared:
“My two kids, 15 months apart, went from playing in school and at home together to sitting in a cold hospital room together. My, then 4 year-year-old watched her brother go from an ambulance to the ICU.
She watched a dozen doctors throw a mask over his face, poke and prod him with needles, pumps a dozen medications through his body, all while he laid there helplessly. She wasn’t sure what was happening.
All she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend.“
She further shares how her little daughter struggled to find answers while watching her brother struggle:
“A little over a month after he was released from the hospital, she watched him struggle to walk and struggle to play. The lively, energetic, and outgoing little brother she once knew was now a quiet, sick, and very sleepy little boy. He never wanted to play.
She didn’t understand how he was able to walk before this, but now he can’t even stand unassisted. She didn’t understand the different therapies he had to attend to gain his strength back. To her, it was something special he got to do that she didn’t.
Why couldn’t they go to their favorite trampoline park anymore? Why couldn’t they go to the splash pads they previously went to? Why didn’t he have to go back to school, but she did?“
Through the picture, Kaitlin stresses on a very critical point of how one needs to have a family and support system around them to cope up with a silent killer:
“Children need support and togetherness, and should not be kept at a distance from the person who is ill.
The most important thing is to show that they are taken care of regardless of the situation.
She spent a fair amount of time, by his side in the bathroom, while he got sick. She stuck by him. She supported him and she took care of him, regardless of the situation. To this day, they are closer. She always takes care of him.
Vomiting between play sessions. Waking up to throw up. Standing by her brothers side and rubbing his back while he gets sick. Going from 30 lbs to 20 lbs.
This is childhood cancer. Take it or leave it.“
After reading this, many of us found ourselves teary-eyed. We are in awe of the courage of this whole family, who have shown so much strength during this tough time.
At I FOR HER, we are praying for this little kid to recover quickly!
