Bad luck holds for Quebec parents who, after the loss of their first baby who died suddenly, are devastated to learn their four-year-old son has a terminal cancer.
“It feels like it’s impossible what’s happening to us. When we go to bed at night, we hope that the nightmare will be over the next day, but it doesn’t stop,” says father Louis-Philippe Dubé with tears in his eyes.
The misunderstanding is total. The pain is immense for the Dubé family.
Without radiotherapy, doctors estimate that William can live at most a month. However, treatments could offer him a few more.
“I’ve always wanted to have children and life takes two away from me,” adds the 31-year-old father.
On July 2, 2018, at around 8:45 a.m., they discovered their seven-month-old baby lifeless in her bed. “Almost twenty minutes earlier I heard him making noises,” says the mother, Jany Lizotte.
A nursing assistant by trade, she immediately began CPR on her baby before he was taken to the hospital. So your little James-William stayed “plugged in” for a night, waiting for a miracle that never came. Nothing could save her baby.
Ms Lizotte, who was pregnant at the time with William, now four, says her pregnancy was particularly difficult. “We had trouble seeing other kids because we were parents, but we didn’t have a baby anymore,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.
But to make matters worse, the family learned last week that “the worst” had happened to their big boy (see text below).
William suffers from an incurable brain tumor; diffuse brainstem glioma (see box).
“I tell myself I won’t survive this, but at the same time I have to be there. I’m in survival mode,” says his mother very emotionally.
In the past few days, the parents have had to raise the issue with their other son, three-year-old Samuel. According to them, William’s little brother is gradually beginning to understand the sad reality.
Photo Elisa Cloutier
“I’ll tell him, Wali [surnom de son frère] gonna take a long nap soon. It’s very hard. I won’t see them kissing each other anymore, saying I love you, sticking together. The joie de vivre that reigns between the two will soon evaporate. Who is he playing outside with? said his father before he burst into tears.
Stressed out, the parents went to William’s first radiation treatment yesterday. He must receive it daily for a period of six weeks. However, the boy must remain still to receive treatment or be sedated, his mother says.
“If it gets too hard, we’ll leave it. […] I don’t want to hurt him either, and I don’t want to hurt us any more,” she said. Radiation therapy should give him more comfort while relieving his symptoms.
The bad news spread very quickly for little William’s parents, who found out almost a week ago that nothing could save their son from his cancer.
It was last Thursday night at Laval University Hospital Center (CHUL), after William underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test of his brain, when the impossible was pronounced: cancer.
“I said ok at the time. We will start chemotherapy or something similar to cure my boy, ”says the father Louis-Philippe Dubé.
Photo courtesy of the Dubé family
Unfortunately, there is no cure for Williams’ type of cancer, they were told.
A diagnosis they were far from guessing, while William had shown few symptoms since last November.
Towards the end of the fall, the normally energetic little boy said he was more tired and complained of occasional headaches. Then, in December, her parents noticed some loss of balance. They therefore consulted a doctor who carried out a series of tests. Everything turned out to be negative.
But last Wednesday, when Williams’ caregiver contacted Ms Lizotte to let her know her son was “cross-eyed,” the mother went straight to the emergency room. “I had a feeling something was wrong, I knew it could be neurological but I had no idea [du diagnostic de cancer]”, She says.
The next day, he underwent an MRI, which revealed the aggressive tumor in his brain.
Even before her son returned from recovery, the doctors came into his room to speak to his mother. “When I saw them arrive, I knew it was serious,” she says.
“I said he’s gonna die, huh, he’s gonna die? And they told me, yes, that it couldn’t be cured,” she says, touched.
To make the most of what few weeks, or at most a few months, her son William has left, his aunt Marie-Pier Dubé launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the family “overcome the insurmountable.”
In particular, the money will be used to reduce the “financial stress” of parents who want to stay with their son for as long as possible.
Mr. Dubé also mentions that the amount raised will allow them to pay for numerous radiotherapy treatments, medications and activities to “pamper” their boy.
“We do everything in everyday life that makes him happy,” adds his mother.
By the end of Wednesday, more than $37,000 had been raised.
BRAIN STEM DIFFUSE GLIOMA:
- Often spreads throughout the brainstem and other parts of the brain
- Often very aggressive
- Currently no curative treatment possible
- May affect vital functions such as balance, breathing, hearing, speaking and swallowing
Source: Canadian Cancer Society
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