It’s a tragedy that NBC News correspondent Richard Engel shared on his Twitter account on Thursday. The American journalist-star lost his 6-year-old son, Henry, who died of Rett syndrome.
“Our beloved son Henry passed away. He had the sweetest blue eyes, an easy smile and an infectious laugh,” wrote Richard Engel on his Twitter account, along with a photo of his son. “We always surrounded him with love and he gave it back to us, and so much more.”
Henry died Aug. 9, according to a memorial page posted on the Texas Children’s Hospital website.
When he was still an infant, Henry was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic neurological disorder that results in severe physical and cognitive impairments.
“His parents noticed that he was not reaching his developmental milestones and he underwent numerous medical tests to find out the cause”indicates the memorial page.
In 2019, Richard Engel celebrated Henry’s third birthday, revealing in a moving essay on ‘Today’ that his son finally said ‘dada’ shortly after the foreign correspondent returned to Syria.