Childhood cancer is vile, cruel and unforgiving. It mercilessly claims the lives of precious little angels and leaves parents in a world that no longer makes sense to them. But while it’s unimaginably cruel, every child who has either won or lost their battle with cancer, leaves behind a story to be shared. Here is one such heart wrenching story of a boy’s final words to his mother.
How childhood cancer started for Nolan
It all started out with what appeared to be a harmless cold. But things took a turn for the worse. As days went by, little Nolan, then aged three, started becoming more poorly. What started as a blocked nose soon escalated to breathing difficulties. Medicine wasn’t making things any better.
Two months later, his doctors revealed the heartbreaking diagnosis. A tumour was causing blockage in his airways. Nolan had childhood cancer.
Nolan was suffering from rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer that is resistant to all forms of treatment.
His devastated mother, Ruth, made a decision to raise awareness and share the harsh reality of the disease. Unlike the usual pictures that capture the physical suffering that cancer subjects a child to, she shared a picture that powerfully captured the trauma, terror and emotional pain that cancer causes a child.
Ruth shared a picture of Nolan sleeping outside her bathroom floor. He was afraid to leave her side even as she showered! Just imagine how terrifying it must be for a child as young as Noah to not know when he will never see his mother again.
Just imagine. At the age of three, most children can’t even understand the idea of death. And this poor little boy had to deal with the fact that death was looming.
In this picture, the boy’s mother captured the mental trauma that childhood cancer causes children.
Childhood cancer got worse for Nolan
Time was not on Nolan’s side. Treatment made him weaker and the cancer spread all over his body. His chances of survival plunged from 40% to 20%. His mother knew he was fighting a losing battle and all she could do was to continue documenting the last lap of his brave fight.
When Noah made his final trip to the hospital, his condition had deteriorated to a point that he had been unable to eat. He would constantly throw up if he ate.
The final days of Nolan’s battle with childhood cancer
As Nolan drew closer to the end, Ruth had a conversation with him. She asked him about the immense pain that he was in, and told him that he didn’t have to fight anymore. He replied.
“I don’t? But I will for you Mommy!”.
Words can’t describe how big-hearted this child is. At such a young age, he had such oceanic compassion.
The conversation continued with his mother telling him that she could no longer keep him safe, and the only way for her to do so would be in heaven. Of course her heart shattered with every word that she spoke. Little Noah graciously accepted the predicament and assured his mother that he would go to heaven and play until she arrived.
And for the following few days, he mostly slept.
Just as they were preparing to head home to spend a final night together, Noah grabbed his mother’s hand and told her that they could just remain in the hospital.
Little Nolan was close to losing his battle with childhood cancer.
He was just four and he was such a hero. He was trying to make things easy for his mother!
That night, at around 9pm, they were watching YouTube and Ruth asked Nolan if she could take a quick shower (remember how she wasn’t allowed to leave his side?) He agreed on the condition that his Uncle sat by his side. His mother stood at the bathroom door and told him to keep looking in her direction.
Later that night, she ran and jumped into bed with him, with her hand on the right side of his face. It was 11:54pm, and she was singing You Are My Sunshine in his ear. He gathered all his strength, woke up one last time and said,
I love you mommy.
He had fought the good fight and Sgt. Rollin Nolan Scully then passed away.
This story moved us to tears. Our heart goes out to the little angel who is now in heaven, playing with angels and waiting for the day he sees his mother again.
Source: Newsner
Image source: Newsner News
*Republished with permission from The Asianparent Singapore