“This is childhood cancer”: Mum pens powerful post about the realities of deadly illness
A US mum has been praised for her candid post about the realities of living with a member who has childhood cancer.
Her son has been diagnosed with leukaemia and has opened up on the ways that the diagnosis in 2015 has impacted the whole family.
Kaitlin Burge has documented her son Beckett’s cancer experience on Facebook and has shared a heartbreaking image of her other child Aubrey comforting Beckett during a bout of nausea.
"My two kids, 15 months apart, went from playing in school and at home together to sitting in a cold hospital room together," the mum writes.
"My then four-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, pump a dozen medications through his body, all while he laid there helplessly.”
Kaitlin explained that her daughter Aubrey struggled to understand what was happening to her brother.
"She wasn't sure what was happening. All she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend."
"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," the post continues.
"Why couldn't they go to their favourite trampoline park anymore? ... Why didn't he have to go back to school, but she did?"
Kaitlin said that Aubrey never left her brothers side, which is something that Kaitlin strongly supported.
"She spent a fair amount of time, by his side in the bathroom, while he got sick. She stuck by him," she continues.
"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 brother's side and rubbing his back while he gets sick ... This is childhood cancer. Take it or leave it."
The comment section was flooded with supportive messages from other families who praised Kaitlin for shining a light on childhood cancer.
"You are highlighting an often overlooked fact that cancer affects the entire family, especially childhood cancer," one writes.
"Your daughter has a loving and compassionate heart and is showing that by the way she is helping her brother."
"My other two children are much older but they break down watching their sister go through the motions. I can definitely relate," another says.
Scroll through the gallery to see Beckett and his sister on his journey through childhood cancer.