Emma Irwin understands the pain of witnessing a child battle cancer.
Irwin’s daughter, Daisy, was diagnosed with infant leukemia — the same type Molly Campbell fought for more than two years — when she was 10 weeks old.
“Only now am I able to put in to words what it feels like to have your child diagnosed with it,” she said Saturday at a memorial service for Molly, who died July 10 at the age of 2 1/2. “It’s awful.”
Irwin met parents Dave and Rebekah Campbell after hearing about Molly and hoped to inspire them with Daisy’s success story — now eight, she’s been in remission for seven years.
“They’ve just been through too much,” Irwin said. “I admire them greatly.”
Hundreds of friends, family and well-wishers gathered Saturday behind the Victoria Christian Reform Church and released pink balloons while Somewhere Over the Rainbow played.
Molly’s father spoke briefly to the gathered crowd.
“I’ve accepted that she wasn’t meant for this world but for the heavens,” he said, overcome with emotion.
Paul Pearson, a family friend, said he had never met a child quite like Molly.
“She had a special strength to her, that even with her disease she was still able to inspire people and still had a smile on her face,” he said. “She inspired more people in her two years of life than the rest of us can hope to inspire.”
