Young Hannah Day has lost her fight with cancer. For a time, it seemed the nine-year-old from Sooke would win her battle. She survived one bout of cancer after another.
At the age of three, she was attacked by a form of tumour that invades muscle tissue. Chemotherapy cured that onslaught.
But shortly after, leukemia set in. It seemed that, too, was fended off, with a stem-cell implant from her mother.
Yet the disease reappeared a year later. In March, beset by vomiting and unbearable headaches, Hannah was flown to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, where doctors found tumours in her brain.
Again, desperate efforts were made to save her. But the new round of chemotherapy weakened her immune system, allowing a series of infections to invade her body.
Septic shock set in, and her parents made the heart-breaking decision to take their daughter off life support.
No child should have to endure what Hannah went through. But though the little girl was a fighter, in the end the odds were just too long.
All that remains is to express our heartfelt condolences to her parents and two young siblings. Hannah is the Hebrew word for grace. That, at least, we can wish for her family.
