Braylynn Lawhon was diagnosed Dec. 6 with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma tumor shortly before her fifth birthday.
PENSACOLA, Fla. — A 5-year-old whose photo with her grandfather touched the hearts of people all over the world has died of an aggressive form of brain cancer .
Braylynn Lawhon of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was diagnosed Dec. 6 with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma tumor shortly before her fifth birthday. She died Monday.
The brain cancer most commonly affects children ages 5 to 10 and is always fatal.
« Princess Braylynn has left us, » the child’s mother, Ally Parker, posted Monday evening on Facebook. « She can finally enter her kingdom. She fought so hard for so long; she exceeded everyone’s expectations. I will post funeral arrangements once they have been made. »
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A photo that Braylynn’s mom took in early January showed the child’s grandfather, Sean Peterson crying beside Braylynn as she lay on a hospital bed at The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. The 49-year-old Peterson himself is fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer speak or swallow because of the disease.
« He hopes that one day, the two of them will be sitting on the couch together again, watching My Little Pony, » Parker told NBC’s Today show.
News sites shared the photo, which led to an outpouring of support for the family. Well-wishers sent donations, gifts, clothes and meals to Braylynn and her family, according to the child’s grandmother.
“It’s a true hell on earth. I feel helpless,” the grandmother, Beth Peterson-Hickman, told People magazine.. “I’m trying to stay strong for my family.”
The family had been trying to raise money through GoFundMe for surgery from a specialist in North Carolina and now is finalizing arrangements for a princess-themed funeral.
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