2023-09-17 04:00:00
A woman whose 13-year-old daughter died of devastating cancer wants her story to serve as a lesson to bring people together, tel as her child would have wanted.
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“Toward the end, I told her that little birds were soon going to take her to the stars and that she should follow them. She left us two days later,” Julie Picard says emotionally.
It all started last winter when her daughter Sarah began to report severe persistent fatigue which was initially attributed to her active lifestyle. At 12, the young girl took speed skating lessons, a sport she loved, and piano lessons following school.
Julie Picard, the mother of Sarah Sirois, wishes to share her daughter’s message of love with the population to respond to her last wish.
Jeremy Bernier
But the tests yielded nothing conclusive. Ditto when Lévis’ family went to the hospital for intermittent headaches and vomiting in the fall.
“Then, on 1is July, my daughter started getting cross-eyed. The doctors finally gave her an MRI to find that she had masses behind her head,” says M.me Picard.
Sarah Sirois spent most of her time between Maison Lémerveil and the hospital, in the last two months of her life.
Provided by Julie Picard
To enjoy life
That’s when everything came to a head for little Sarah, who was discovered to have a high-grade glioma, a type of cancer that initially develops in the brain, but had already spread to her spine.
Her condition continued to worsen in the weeks that followed, plunging her into a coma, before she miraculously woke up following a few days. A short-term lull allowed the family to get away for a bit on vacation.
Sarah Sirois loved speed skating, a sport she had practiced for years.
Provided by Julie Picard
Well aware of her precarious state, the young girl who was able to celebrate her 13th birthday in the meantime decided to tell what she experienced in the hope of opening people’s eyes.
“I would like people to know my story […] tell them that life goes quickly and to enjoy it,” she began to write before reality caught up with her.
Last will
Sarah Sirois finally died on the night of August 20 to 21, following having “fallen asleep” two days earlier. It had been barely 50 days since the first MRI.
«[Dans les semaines précédentes], she wanted me to read her the message that I was going to read for her in church during her funeral. I’m happy that she was able to hear it for real and that she loved it,” sighs the child’s mother, a tremor in her voice.
Sarah Sirois wanted to make sure she had beautiful photos for her funeral cards, so she decided to hold a photo shoot a few weeks before her death. We see her here with her father Michel Sirois.
Provided by Julie Picard
It is with the aim of respecting the last wish of her daughter that Mme Picard decided to confide in the Journal in the hope of raising awareness of the importance of each little moment spent with family.
The family wishes that expressions of sympathy translate into donations for Maison Lémerveil Suzanne Vachon, Leucan, the Foundation of Governors of Hope, the Foundation of the CHU of Quebec and the Brain Tumor Foundation.
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