The tie that exists between siblings is the most powerful of all. It is the privilege of having a brother or sister to call one’s best friend forever.
Franklin and Cayden Collard, two kids of Meagan and Laurence Collard of Western Australia, enjoyed a picture-perfect upbringing with their parents and two brothers. As a result, the couple had always desired a female child, and the boys had long desired a younger sister, so when Meagan discovered she was expecting a daughter, the whole family was overjoyed.
Because everyone had been looking forward to meeting the newest member of the family, it was the greatest moment of everyone’s lives when Piper Winifred was brought into the world.
When Baby Piper was born, she met all of her developmental milestones on time, and everything appeared to be going well for her until she began vomiting one day. Her parents brought her to a gastroenterologist, and when the little one developed a fever, Meagan and Laurence sought the advice of a general practitioner. The kid was diagnosed with an ear infection, and she was given medicine to treat the condition.
Unfortunately, about a month later, Piper had a similar event again and was hospitalized. Meagan, on the other hand, became highly anxious when she spotted a firm mass on Piper’s tummy this time.
Because of this, the child was transported back to the hospital on the same day. The results of the blood tests revealed that the patient had HIV, hepatitis C, or cancer. As soon as Meagan heard this, she became incredibly alarmed since she was fairly convinced her kid couldn’t possible have HIV or hepatitis because she had been tested for both when she was expecting her. While they awaited the results of more testing, they hoped and prayed that Piper did not have cancer. Unfortunately, the news was terrible. Piper was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a kind of cancer that is typically encountered in newborns.
When Piper was diagnosed, her cancer had progressed from her adrenal glands to her liver, lymph nodes, belly, chest cavity, and ovaries, among other places.
The family was well aware that things would not be easy, but they were resolved to fight for their daughter’s life no matter how difficult the situation seemed.
Piper had five cycles of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant operation, radiation treatment, and immunotherapy when she was 11 months old. All of these treatments were painful and exhausting, but Piper began to feel better as a result, and it seemed that it had all been worthwhile.
Piper returned home for Christmas, and it seemed as though everything was starting to fall into place, but the euphoria of this family was short-lived.
Their biggest nightmare became a reality. The cancer had returned, and this time it had spread considerably more than before.
Piper’s parents attempted to enroll her in a medical study in another country in an effort to save her life, but were denied since the function of Piper’s liver was impaired.
Instead, Piper had further chemotherapy treatments in the hopes of improving her liver’s function enough so that they may reapply for the experiment in the future. Unfortunately, Piper’s health began to worsen following the fourth day of chemotherapy.
After being advised that there was nothing that could be done for Piper on June 17, Meagan and Laurence were instructed that they should take her home with them. Piper’s parents were aware that she was in the midst of her last days, but they were unsure how to convey this information to Piper’s brothers.
Piper seemed to be in a good mood and cheery on June 20. While she was regaining her strength to play with her older brothers, she began vomiting blood later in the afternoon. Meagan phoned the home nurse, who told her that the only thing she could do was provide pain relievers to the baby.
In the early hours of the morning, Piper died, leaving her family sad and mourning her loss.
Cayden, Piper Winifred’s 5-year-old brother, carried her coffin to the funeral home on the day of her funeral. He wanted to embrace his tiny sister one more time before she passed away. It was his way of bidding farewell to the world. Seeing this was both upsetting and heartwarming at the same time. It demonstrated the affection this little kid had for his sister and served as a reminder to everyone who observed the incident that the relationship between siblings is indestructible.
They published Piper’s tale on a Facebook page devoted to her struggle, which attempts to raise awareness of neuroblastoma in her memory. Piper’s parents were moved to share their daughter’s story since she had changed their lives forever.