Heart-rending photo shows girl 5, comforting her little brother, 4, while he’s sick from chemo during leukaemia battle
THIS heartbreaking photo shows a little girl rubbing her four-year-old brother's back while he's sick from chemo during his cancer battle.
Beckett Burge was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in April 2018 and since then has spent months in hospital having treatment.
His selfless five-year-old sister Aubrey, who is just 14 months older, shuns playing with pals to stay and care for her sibling.
Mum Kaitlin Burge, 28, of Texas, US, says she has decided to release the striking image of her children, taken in January, to show the importance of family in times of crisis.
It shows Aubrey comforting her brother as she leans over the toilet being sick.
Kaitlin says that after the snap, Aubrey then washed her brother's hands and carried him to the couch before offering to clean the bathroom.
The mum-of-three said: "When I see them together, it makes me happy but at the same time it makes me sad.
"They have an incredible bond. To this day, they are closer, she always takes care of him.
They have an incredible bond. To this day, they are closer, she always takes care of him
Kaitlin Burge
"A child that's four or five years old should be outside playing with their friends.
"She should be out doing gymnastics, running around the neighbourhood with the kids, playing in the playground, swimming in the pool - but here she is taking care of her brother.
"They're very close - they always played together. He'd play dolls with her and she'd play superheroes with him.
"We encourage her to go outside and do things, but she'd rather have her eyes on him."
Siblings reunited
Beckett came home after more than a month in hospital on Aubrey's fifth birthday.
The youngster underwent chemotherapy, blood transfusions and platelet transfusions during his stay.
While he was in hospital, the children were split up and cared for by other relatives - Aubrey went to her grandma's house.
Kaitlin and husband Matthew, 31, sent their youngest daughter Chandler, who is nearly two, to live at her uncle's house.
When they were reunited, they hadn't seen each other since Beckett was diagnosed.
Kaitlin said: "Beckett was very petite, couldn't walk and he'd lost a lot of weight. To Aubrey it was very odd and he looked different.
"We weren't really sure how to handle the situation or if we wanted her to know what was going on.
"But whenever he came home Aubrey was trying to work out why he didn't want to play - it wasn't like him.
"She wondered why he was sleeping all the time and needed help to the bathroom. He would just be sick and he'd never been sick before.
She'd rub his back and tell him it was going to be okay, clean his face up and wash his hands for him
Kaitlin Burge
"She didn't know what was happening, but she knew from experience that when she was sick, we would rub her back and help her through it.
"She just picked up from experience and took over. She'd rub his back and tell him it was going to be okay, clean his face up and wash his hands for him.
";Right after that happened, she also carried him back to the living room and put him on the couch.
"She asked me she could clean up the bathroom too, but I told her to go and sit down because that wasn't her job.
"She takes it upon herself to help and make sure everything he comes into contact with is clean. She's another set of eyes."
Worried sister
Aubrey, who started preschool this summer, continues to worry about her 'best friend', despite her parents' reassurance.
She looks through pictures of her brother and ask questions about all the medical equipment surrounding him, desperate to have her play buddy back, Kaitlin added.
Kaitlin said: "We took pictures of him while in hospital and she scrolls through them on my phone.
"She asks a lot of questions, she's a very smart little girl.
"She'll go to picture and ask 'why does he have a mask on?' and we'll tell her.
"She's 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, all she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend.
"We explain that he got really sick, this is what happened, it was nothing he ate or did, nothing she did, it can't be prevented and it's not going to happen to her.
She wasn’t sure what was happening, all she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend
Kaitlin Burge
"We explained everything to her and got our social worker involved.
"We've been very open with her so any questions that she ever has we talk through it with her, we explain it with Beckett in the room as well.
"He'll tell people 'I have cancer', he knows what he has. We make sure she's very supportive and knows it doesn't make him any different.
"She's always worried about where he is, what he's doing, who he's with.
What is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia?
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that starts from young white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow.
Adults and children can get it but it is most often diagnosed in younger people.
It's very rare, with around 650 people diagnosed with the condition each year in the UK.
Many symptoms of ALL are vague and non specific. It may feel like the flu as symptoms are caused by too many abnormal white blood cells and not enough normal white cells, red cells and platelets.
Symptoms can include:
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Bruising or bleeding easily
- Frequent infections
- General weakness
- Weight loss
- Joint pain
- Breathlessness
- Pale skin
- Swollen glands
It is a genetic change in the stem cells that causes immature white blood cells to be released into the bloodstream.
However, it's not clear what causes the DNA mutation to occur.
The main treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is chemotherapy, and usually steroids as well.
Treatment with a targeted cancer drug might also be used as well. Some people will need a stem cell transplant.
The outlook for adults with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia isn't as promising as in children.
Around 40 per cent of people aged between 25 and 64 will live for five years or more after receiving their diagnosis.
In those aged 65 or over, around 15 per cent will live for five years or more after being diagnosed.
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"Her having to do things by herself was not something she was used to doing and she didn't want to do it."
Since being diagnosed 18 months ago, Beckett has shown incredible strength despite having chemotherapy pills every night and needing regular hospital treatment.
It's estimated he will be on treatment for two more years but in the meantime he'll have his loving family, especially doting sister Aubrey, to help him through.
Kaitlin said: ";His situation started overnight with an ear infection. There were no things leading up to it that would even suggest cancer.
MORE ON LEUKAEMIA
"He's in maintenance right now and he will continue his treatment until August 8, 2021.
"He has chemo every single night, then has an anti-fungal for an infection he had when officially diagnosed.
"He's on the normal protocol - the steroids every month for five days, going to the clinic for chemo through his port, then a pill at home every night."
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