Heart-wrenching photo shows brutal reality of cancer
Anyone who has been touched by cancer knows how devastating it can be, and never has this been more evident than in this heart-wrenching photograph.
The photo, which was shared by the family as a reminder about the devastating effects of cancer, depicts Braylynn Lawhon of Gulf Breeze, Florida and her grandfather.
Just months ago, Braylynn was healthy girl celebrating her 5th birthday. But after she was diagnosed with a form of brain cancer in December, things quickly took a turn for the worse.
Braylynn is now in hospice care at a hospital in Pensacola and is being visited by friends and family routinely. The image above depicts a visit from her grandfather Sean Peterson, who suffers from bone marrow cancer and ALS.
“They wheeled him in to see Braylynn. He can no longer speak, he can’t move his hands and he has a feeding tube,” Beth Peterson-Hickman, Braylynn’s grandmother and Peterson’s ex-wife, told PEOPLE. “When he saw her, he was crying and it was heart-wrenching. I broke down and I had to turn around.”
“He does not deserve this. He, like me, we’re supposed to watch our grandkids grow up and make us great-grandparents,” Peterson-Hickman says.
Our thoughts are with the family as they deal with this tragic incident.
Hero image credit: Facebook / Ally Parker