Eli’s Fight with AML Leukemia

01/28/2026

Eli taught me how to be the mom that I am. I don’t think I could be a more loving mom for Lily now. Losing Eli helped me understand how fragile life can be, and now I go through life appreciating all the little things more than I ever would have before. Every moment spent with my baby girl is so precious and I am very grateful for each and every one. My precious gift from Eli sent down from heaven 🧡🩷

The firstborn makes you a parent.❤️

They’re the one you googled everything for.
The one you checked on while they slept.
The one you were terrified to mess up.

They watched you learn how to be a mom in real time,
the nerves, the tears, the trial and error, the growth.

They didn’t get a perfect parent.
They got a parent who was learning, adjusting, and trying every single day.

Before the routines, before the confidence, before you “figured it out,”
there was them.

Your firstborn didn’t just change your life.
They changed you.

01/28/2026

This is awful! It happens in Australia and Canada too 😥

Remember this. In the UK, if your child is critically ill, you have no legal right to be by their bedside. No guaranteed leave. No guaranteed pay. No automatic mental health support when you’re breaking.

You’re expected to:
• sit by a hospital bed
• watch your child suffer
• hold it together
• keep your job
• keep paying the bills

And if you can’t? That’s on you.

This isn’t rare. It happens to thousands of families every year. No parent should have to choose between their child and their livelihood. No parent should be abandoned by the system at the moment their world collapses.

That’s why we are campaigning for change. Because compassion should not depend on your employer.

Parents deserve better.

🧡

01/21/2026

This is so true.

Most people believe that when a child is diagnosed with cancer, the best doctors and researchers are working together to save them.

That's not what's happening.

Hospitals protect their data. Researchers compete for grants instead of sharing breakthroughs. The system isn't designed to cure cancer—it's designed to keep labs open and publications flowing.

Beat Childhood Cancer is changing that. We're an unprecedented allegiance of parents, doctors, and researchers who are taking the fight into our own hands.

Learn more: https://beatcc.org/our-work/

01/19/2026

I never could have imagined how much losing a child would have changed me. I feel like a completely different person from who I once was. I will never feel happiness again like I once did, and although my heart has and will continue to mend somewhat, it will never been fully whole again 💔

🥀 I miss who I was when my soul didn't hurt. When my smile didn’t feel borrowed. When my heart hadn’t learned how to break this deeply. The me who didn’t measure life in before and after. Because the me I am now was built from survival, not choice and I often wonder if I'll ever be her again Grieving Parents

01/15/2026

Eli would have been 3 today! There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t wish he were still here with us. Happy heavenly birthday Eli 🧡🧡🧡

11/22/2025

"Your complaints about your baby tossing in bed is another mama’s wish that her baby was still laying next to her.

Your complaints about your baby waking up early is another mama’s wish that she had a reason to get out of bed.

While you’re passing your baby to anyone willing to hold them, another mama is begging to hold hers.

My child is battling cancer.

Remember to hold your baby extra tight, because some of us mamas can’t."

11/13/2025

The holidays aren’t easy for everyone.

Behind the twinkling lights and holiday music, some hearts are aching.

Some are missing loved ones.
Some are quietly carrying pain, grief, or worry… doing their best just to get through the season.

Let’s be the light for those who feel a little lost in the dark. A kind word, a simple message, or even a small gesture can mean more than we’ll ever know.

Compassion costs nothing,
but it can change everything.

11/03/2025

For most people it’s out of sight, out of mind. If everyone knew how horrible it is, we would be putting a lot more effort into finding cures because there’s not much else worse I can think of than having your child’s life slowly wither away and than watch the life go out of them as you feel them die in your arms 💔

Imagine this. You’ve just been told your child is seriously ill. You drop everything work, home, sleep and move into a hospital room.

Days turn into weeks. Weeks into months.
There’s no mental health support. No financial help. No food provided for you.

Just a half-sleepable bed beside your child’s if you’re lucky. Many parents sleep on two chairs pushed together, or on the floor.

You try to work from the ward so you don’t lose your job. You watch your child go through pain you can’t take away. You’re told to “be strong.”

But what would you do?
How long could you survive like this physically, mentally, emotionally?

For thousands of parents, this is not a story. It’s their life. Every single day.

🦋 It’s Never You because until it happens to you, you can’t imagine it.

11/03/2025

I feel this 💔

“I Didn’t Feel It Break”

I didn’t feel it break
not the way people think.
It wasn’t one big shatter.
It was slow.
Cruel.
A ripping from the inside out.

I was still breathing when it happened,
still standing,
still moving,
but something inside me
was screaming so loud
the world went quiet.

My heart didn’t just crack
it splattered.
It burst under the weight of a name
I still whisper every night.
His name.
My child.

I tried to hold it together,
press the pieces to my chest
so I wouldn’t lose another part of him.
But it cut me
over and over again.
And the blood isn’t blood anymore
it’s memory,
it’s pain that never clots.

They say time heals,
but time only reminds me
how long it’s been
since I heard his voice.
Healing?
No.
I just got better at pretending.

People look at me
and see a mother surviving
but I’m not surviving.
I’m haunted.
I walk around holding a heart
that’s no longer mine,
just the remains
of what love looks like
after it dies.

And every shard that falls
still bleeds his name.
Every piece still screams,
“I miss you.”

Written by: Marlena L Bowdery
Many Phases And Faces Of A Mother's Grief

10/17/2025

Never take your kids for granted. Even during the worst temper tantrums, just remember to be thankful that they’re healthy. Some parents aren’t so lucky and would give anything for a healthy child, even if they can be a brat sometimes 💛

After hearing from the doctor that her son Léo’s cancer could no longer be treated — that no therapy was working anymore and the only goal was “to keep him comfortable until the end”… Claire went to his room.

Léo was sitting on his bed, watching videos on his tablet.
She sat beside him, rested her head against his, and they had this heartbreaking conversation:

— Me: Breathing hurts, doesn’t it?
— Léo: Uh… yeah.
— Me: Does it hurt all the time?
— Léo: (looking down) Yes…
— Me: This cancer is awful… You know, you don’t have to fight anymore.
— Léo: I don’t have to? (with a small smile) But I’ll keep fighting for you, Mom!
— Me: No, sweetheart… You’re doing it for me?
— Léo: Well… yes.
— Me: And what’s a mom’s job?
— Léo: To protect you! (with his big smile)
— Me: My love… I can’t protect you here anymore. The only way to do it now is from the sky. (My heart shattered.)
— Léo: Then I’ll go to the sky and play while I wait for you! You’ll come, right?
— Me: Of course I’ll come! You know you can’t get rid of Mom that easily!
— Léo: Thanks, Mom! I’ll play while I wait for you!

That was their last real conversation.

In the hours that followed, Claire never left his side.
They played, laughed, watched videos, and fought the “bad guys” with their toy guns.
They made the most of every moment.

An hour before he left, he snuggled into her arms again and told her how he wanted to be remembered:
— “As a policeman.”

A little later, Claire went to the bathroom.
When she came back, Léo was sleeping deeply.
His little body had given up.

But in one final breath, he opened his eyes, smiled, and whispered:
— “I love you, Mom.”
Then he closed his eyes as Claire softly sang into his ear…

Léo passed away at just 4 years old, in his mother’s arms, after a brave fight against cancer.

The photo shared isn’t just one picture — it’s two.
In the first, you see Léo lying on the bathroom rug, waiting for his mom to finish her shower.
In the second… the same rug. Empty.

Just a silent rug… where a perfect little boy once waited for his mom.

If tonight your child is near you,
put your phone down.
Forget what you’re doing.
And give them the longest, warmest hug. 💛

10/01/2025

💛💛💛💛

President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at using artificial intelligence to improve research and treatments for childhood cancer. The order builds on a 2019 database established …

10/01/2025

This is so exciting! I’m so glad he’s still pushing to establish the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative that he originally proposed in 2019! As a pediatric cancer patient’s parent, I strongly feel like this is something that is so badly needed to speed up treatment options and find cures 💗

Executive order being signed to double the funding to support pediatric cancer.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced a doubling of funding for its Childhood Cancer Data Initiative at the National Cancer Institute. The funding surge is designed to accelerate the development of improved diagnostics, treatments, and prevention strategies.

President Trump in 2019 established the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative to collect, generate, and analyze childhood cancer data. Its budget will rise from $50 million to $100 million, giving the federal government stronger data for this effort. The initiative will also bring in private-sector partners to apply advanced artificial intelligence to speed up cures for pediatric cancer.

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-doubles-ai-backed-childhood-cancer-research-funding.html