A two-year-boy from Melbourne has lost his battle with brain cancer just months after his mother died of brain cancer too.
Alfie Chivers was diagnosed with an atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumour last September and died after a nine-month-long fight on Monday night.
“Devastated to report little Alfie Chivers lost his battle with brain cancer last night,” ABC journalist Louise Milligan—who first covered the family’s story on 7.30— tweeted.
“Alfie was two. It’s been 18 weeks since his Mum Sara also lost her battle. I’ll never forget them. RIP beautiful little Alfie and gorgeous Sara. Hug your babies people.”
“Rest in peace little man, we love you forever,” Alfie’s father Leigh shared Instagram.
In March, mother-of-two Sara was told she had terminal brain cancer; she died in January at age 34, Nine News reports.
The New Daily published a heartbreaking letter Sara wrote to her sons one she learnt of her terminal diagnosis.
“Dear Hugh and Alfie, I won’t be around to see you grow up. It’s a hard thing to say and even harder to face. You will have to hear from others the little things that made me me: my perfume of choice is Michael Kors, my favourite meal is spaghetti bolognese, winter is my preferred season. I wish I was a better cook. I’m a keeper of mementos – tiny hospital name tags, the poem Leigh wrote for my 21st birthday, first baby clothes,” she wrote.
“Don’t be afraid of expressing your emotions. I will never tire of hearing ‘I love you’ from Leigh, you boys, my family, friends.”
“Heartbroken doesn’t come close to describing the pain I feel at not being in your lives in the future, but I would never change or forego the time we have spent together and the immense joy you have brought me,” the letter continued.
“You are without a doubt my proudest accomplishments.”
You can read Sara’s letter in full here and make a donation to the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation here.