Cancer is devastating for not only the patent but the entire family.
A black-and-white photo of a 5-year-old girl comforting her 4-year-old brother as he gets sick after chemotherapy treatments illustrates it perfectly.
The photo was taken by Kaitlin Burge, from Princeton, Texas, and posted to the family's Facebook page, Beckett Strong.
Beckett is being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL. The family got the diagnosis in April 2018, after they thought the boy had a normal childhood ear infection. He was on antibiotics for that when his temperature spiked. They rushed Beckett to an emergency room and after about an hour, they learned that Beckett had pneumonia with a hemoglobin count of 5.5 and a white blood cell count of 150,000. The doctor said it was leukemia.
He's expected to undergo treatment until August 2021.
In the post, Beckett's mother wrote, "You always hear about the financial and medical struggles, but how often do you hear about the struggles families with other children face? To some, this may be hard to see and read. My two kids, 15 months apart, went from playing in school and at home together to sitting in a cold hospital room together."
Burge described the medical emergency where doctors discovered Beckett had cancer, saying, "She wasn't sure what was happening. All she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend."
Burge also described what her daughter, Aubrey, had to miss out on since her brother is fighting for his life -- no more splash park trips together, no more trips to jump on trampolines.
But in the end, the little girl comforts her baby brother. "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," Burge wrote.
The post hit home for many people who have their own children battling cancer, many sharing their stories on the Facebook page, Fox News reported.
Since the photos were posted there have been more than 49,000 reactions 4,500 comments and 31,000 shares in a week, People magazine reported.
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