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“There’s Something About Seeing Your 5-Year-Old Carry a Tiny Little Casket That Will Break Your Heart. He Was Always Holding His Little Sister.”

Around March 2019, Piper began getting really difficult. More and more unhappy, losing weight, and just becoming a completely different kid. The doctors put this down to the medication she was receiving during immunotherapy. By May, she wasn’t wanting to walk much at all and constantly cried if I wasn’t cuddling her, which is fine but extremely difficult when you’re a mom of three and already spending a lot of time away from your other two children.

She began holding her stomach over her liver and saying ouch. Even though there was still disease in her liver on her last scan the doctors dismissed our concerns saying it was just a virus or the treatment, but for a not even two-year-old to pinpoint a spot and say ouch repeatedly was just plain odd. We had just lost a little friend from the ward who was Piper’s age who died after relapsing and the Doctors not listening to her mom, so I thought maybe I was just overreacting and thinking the worst. I fully trusted our doctors.

Saturday, June 8th my husband was cuddling Piper while the boys were in bed and noticed a huge lump on her belly button. We had noticed that morning her eyes were looking a little yellow. After being dismissed every other time I was worried going to hospital was a waste of time, but we went anyway. Multiple scans in the middle of the night and the next morning we got the news the tumours had spread.

I was instantly extremely angry; I had told the doctors multiple times that she wasn’t ok, but they wouldn’t investigate. The chance of relapse is 50% for high risk neuroblastoma. I began researching all our options and we decided we would be heading overseas to take part in trials for relapse neuroblastoma.

Unfortunately, we got the news that her liver had far too much damage and she wouldn’t be accepted in any trials because of that. We decide to do chemotherapy here to try and get rid of some of the tumours on her live to improve the function so she would be accepted. The first few days of chemo was looking really good, her liver function was improving, we were doing chemo and natural treatments.

On the 4th day, her liver function began to decline again, and they did another scan which showed the disease progressing, meaning it was most likely resistant against the chemo. I spent my days researching every natural treatment possible but on the 17th of June we were sent home to wait and see if the chemo would eventually work.

Courtesy of Meagan Collard

We kept our eldest home from school that week and had to explain to her brothers that their baby sister was probably going to heaven. Cayden who was now five instantly said we had to find her a new doctor or make her soup to make her better but eventually understood that no one would be able to help her. This was the hardest thing we had to do.

Thursday the 20th, June 2019 Piper woke up the best she had been all week. She wanted to eat, interacted with her brothers and was just a bit happier. My husband decided to take Cayden to a football game with the rest of our family as she seemed so well.

About 5:30 p.m. she vomited, which was mostly blood. I called the home nurse who came to check on her. She called the doctor and got me to give her pain relief and said to get my husband home asap. It took him 45 minutes to get home. He left Cayden with the rest of our family and he made it home in time to cuddle our baby girl for the last time.

Courtesy of Meagan Collard

At 9:14 p.m. she took her last breath. I will never ever get that moment out of my head. It’s the most dreadful feeling listening to them breath so slowly and wondering if that’s the last breath. We told her it was ok to go and that she wouldn’t be in pain anymore but then the moment she did we just wanted her back. We got Cayden home and woke Franklin up out of bed. They got to cuddle their baby sister one last time and say goodbye.

The funeral home came and got her just after midnight. Watching your little girl be placed onto a sterile metal bed in the back of a white van all on her own just shatters every inch of you. We said our final goodbyes on the 1st of July, 18 days before her second birthday.

There’s something about seeing your 5-year-old carrying a tiny little casket that will break your heart and make you so proud all at the same time. He was always holding his little sister, and this was the last time he would ever get to.

WATCH: Sisters Sing Bone-Chilling Easter Rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’

The young sisters from Fort Frances, Ontario sing an Easter rendition of Leonard Cohen's famous "Hallelujah," that is so beautiful, it'll bring tears to your eyes.

What Is Maundy Thursday?—How to Celebrate During Holy Week

As we celebrate Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, you may start to wonder, what is Maundy Thursday? Three days before Easter, we come to Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning command, order, or commission.

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They’re the most famous conjoined twins in the world, and now Abby Hensel, of the duo Abby and Brittany, is now married!