A father whose young daughter died of a tumor in her brain and spinal cord has shared a crushing photo of his son saying goodbye to his sister.
“A little boy should not have to say goodbye to his partner in crime, his play mate, his best friend, his little sister,” wrote Matt Sooter of a tender moment shared between his kids on the Facebook page “Hope for Addy Joy – Fighting DIPG” on June 2. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. But this is the broken world we live in. Addy’s symptoms have progressed rapidly over the past day and a half. Yesterday she woke up as her spunky playful self. While we still see short instances of our girl she can no longer eat or swallow without difficulty and she’s sleeping most of the time now and we’ve admitted her into inpatient care. Most likely she doesn’t have much time left.”
Matt added, “For our family and close friends if you feel you need to tell her goodbye we recommend you contact us and do so soon. Pray for Jackson. He doesn’t want to leave her side and we won’t make him. Pray for us. That we have the right words and can make the necessary arrangements in time. Always remember: God is in this situation, He’s up to something, and He’s up to something GOOD.”
The photo has collected 3,600 likes and almost 1,000 shares.
In November 2016 Addy, who lived in Rogers, Ark., was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontene glioma (DIPG), which, according to Boston Children’s Hospital, is a “highly aggressive and difficult to treat” tumor at the brain’s base.
In an essay published by the Advertiser, a Lafayette, La.-based website, Matt wrote that signs of Addy’s illness presented at a Missouri theme park when his mother remarked that the girl, then 2, was having trouble walking, a symptom the family surmised was fatigue or a growth spurt.
