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Lifestyle & Human Interest

Mom Writes Heart-Wrenching Post About Impact of Childhood Cancer on Siblings

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A mother has opened up on Facebook about how her son’s cancer has impacted her entire family, including her daughter.

“One thing they don’t tell you about childhood cancer is that it affects the entire family,” Kaitlin Burge wrote on a Facebook page she set up to chronicle her son’s journey with cancer. “You always hear about the financial and medical struggles, but how often do you hear about the struggles families with other children face?”



On April 25, 2018, Burge’s son Beckett was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The diagnosis, and the events that led up to it, was tragic for everyone in the family, but Burge recently shone a light on how confused and powerless her then-4-year-old daughter must have felt as her brother moved from the 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. She wasn’t sure what was happening,” she wrote.



“All she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend.”

Even after Beckett came home, things weren’t the same; he wasn’t able to walk as well as he did before nor did he have the same amount of energy.

“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,” Burge wrote.



Despite her not initially understanding all that was going on with her brother, she stepped up and helped take of him — as a big sister should.

“She stuck by him. She supported him and she took care of him, regardless of the situation,” the mother wrote.

Burge defended her and her husband’s decision to include their daughter on Beckett’s cancer journey, emphasizing how important it was for the siblings to be together not kept apart.

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“To this day, they are closer. She always takes care of him,” the mother wrote.

“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.”

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Kayla has been a staff writer for The Western Journal since 2018.
Kayla Kunkel began writing for The Western Journal in 2018.
Birthplace
Tennessee
Honors/Awards
Lifetime Member of the Girl Scouts
Location
Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
News, Crime, Lifestyle & Human Interest




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