The bad luck persists on parents of Quebec, who following the loss of their first baby, died suddenly, are devastated to learn that their little boy of four years is suffering from an incurable cancer.
“It feels like it’s impossible what’s happening to us. When we go to bed at night, we hope that the nightmare will be over the next day, but it does not end,” says the father, Louis-Philippe Dubé, his eyes full of water.
The misunderstanding is total. The pain is immense for the Dubé family.
Photo provided by the Dubé family
Without radiotherapy, doctors estimate that William will be able to live for another month at most. However, treatments might offer him a few more.
“I’ve always wanted to have children and life takes two away from me,” adds the 31-year-old father.
Sudden death
On July 2, 2018, around 8:45 a.m., they discovered their seven-month-old baby, lifeless in her bed. “Barely twenty minutes before, I heard him make sounds,” says the mother, Jany Lizotte.
A nursing assistant by trade, she immediately undertook resuscitation maneuvers on her baby, before he was rushed to hospital. Their little James-William thus remained “plugged in” for one night, waiting for a miracle that never came. Nothing might save their baby.
Mme Lizotte, who at the time was pregnant with William, now four years old, says her pregnancy was particularly difficult. “We had trouble seeing other children, because we were parents, but we no longer had a baby,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.
But, to make matters worse, the family learned last week that the “worst of the worst” was happening to their big boy (see text below).
William is suffering from incurable brain cancer; diffuse brainstem glioma (see box).
“I tell myself that I will not be able to survive this, but at the same time, I have to be there. I’m in survival mode,” says his mother, very emotional.
Over the past few days, the parents have had to broach the subject with their other son, three-year-old Samuel. According to them, William’s little brother is gradually beginning to understand the sad reality.
Photo provided by the Dubé family
“I tell him that Wali [surnom de son frère] going to take a long nap soon. It’s very hard. I will no longer see them giving each other kisses, saying “I love you”, hugging each other. In no long time, the joie de vivre that there is between these two will disappear. Who is he going to play outside with? his father said, before bursting into tears.
Radiotherapy
Stressed, the parents headed Wednesday to the first radiotherapy treatment for William. He must receive it daily, for a period of six weeks. However, the boy will have to remain still to receive his treatment or he will have to be anesthetized, says his mother.
“If it gets too hard, we’ll let it go. […] I also don’t want to hurt him and hurt us more,” she said. Radiotherapy should allow him more comfort, while reducing his symptoms.
Bad news rolls in
The bad news “tumbled” very quickly for the parents of little William, who learned barely a week ago that nothing might save their son from his cancer.
It was last Thursday evening, at the Laval University Hospital Center (CHUL), following William had undergone a magnetic resonance imaging test of his brain (MRI), that the impossible was pronounced: cancer.
“At the time, I said OK. We are going to start chemotherapy or something like that to cure my boy, ”says the father, Louis-Philippe Dubé.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for William’s type of cancer, they were told.
A diagnosis which they were far from suspecting, while William had only presented a few symptoms since last November.
Fatigue and headaches
Towards the end of the fall, the usually energetic little boy said he was more tired and complained of occasional headaches. Then, in December, her parents noticed some loss of balance. They thus consulted a doctor, who carried out a battery of tests. All turned out to be negative.
But last Wednesday, when William’s educator contacted Mme Lizotte to tell her that her son was “cross-eyed”, the mother went directly to the emergency room. “I felt something was wrong, I knew it might be neurological, but I had no idea regarding it [du diagnostic de cancer]”, she says.
The next day, he underwent an MRI, which detected the aggressive tumor lodged in his brain.
Even before her son came back from the recovery room, the doctors came to his room, to talk to his mother. “Seeing them arrive, I knew it was serious,” she says.
“I was saying, he’s going to die huh, he’s going to die? And they told me that yes, that it might not be cured”, she relates, with emotion.
Fundraiser
To take advantage of the few weeks, or even a few months, at most, that their son William has left, his aunt, Marie-Pier Dubé, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the family “get through the insurmountable”.
The money will be used in particular to reduce the “financial stress” of the parents, who wish to stay with their son as long as possible.
Mr. Dubé also mentions that the amount raised will allow them to pay the costs related to numerous radiotherapy treatments, medications, in addition to activities to be able to “spoil” their boy.
“We do everything that makes him happy in everyday life,” adds his mother.
By the end of Wednesday, more than $37,000 had been raised.
Diffuse brainstem glioma:
- Often spreads throughout the brainstem and other parts of the brain
- Often very aggressive
- No curative treatment possible at the moment
- May affect vital functions including balance, breathing, hearing, speaking and swallowing
Source: Canadian Cancer Society