Little Beckett was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on April 25, 2018. Now his mom, Kaitlin, uses the Facebook page, Beckett Strong, to share the ups and downs of her young son’s journey with their now 32,000 followers.
More recently, the mom opened up about the affects childhood cancer not only has on the child with cancer but the effect it has on their entire family as well.
Kaitlin wrote:
One thing they don’t tell you about childhood cancer is that it affects the entire family. 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.
The mom continued saying that her 4-year-old daughter had to watch her little brother, her best friend, being rushed to the ICU in an ambulance when his health worsened.
She had to witness her brother being poked and prodded by handfuls of doctors, always knowing her brother was sick, but never truly understanding the gravity of the situation.
Kaitlin wrote:
A little over a month after he was released from the hospital, she watched him struggle to walk and struggle to play. 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.
The mom admitted that it wasn’t something her 4-year-old could wrap her mind around at the time, she struggled to understand why he could walk before, but now he couldn’t.
She struggled to understand why her little brother was always going to different therapies, but they couldn’t go to their favorite trampoline park anymore:
Why did we take his sister with us and why did she see all of this at a young age? Children need support and togetherness, and should not be kept at a distance from the person who is ill. The most important thing is to show that they are taken care of regardless of the situation. She spent a fair amount of time, by his side in the bathroom, while he got sick. She stuck by him. 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.
Katilin then showed photos of Beckett’s big sister caring for him as he got nauseous:
One thing they don’t tell you about childhood cancer is that it affects the entire family. You always hear about the…
Posted by Beckett Strong on Tuesday, September 3, 2019
She concluded, “Vomiting between play sessions. Waking up to throw up. Standing by her brother’s 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.”
According to the American Cancer Society, in 2019, roughly “11,060 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer.” And due to the “major treatment advances in recent decades, more than 80% of children with cancer now survive 5 years or more.”