The heartbreaking sight of a young girl consoling her big brother is captured on video. He had been sick due to receiving chemotherapy.
The video, captured by mom Cara Hardy, shows Akira Hardy, 3, rubbing her brother’s back as he droops his head over the toilet after a sickening round of chemo.
Liam Hardy, 9, has been battling leukemia since 2020, and these scenes have become commonplace for his family, who hail from Jefferson City, Tennessee.
Ms. Hardy, 31, has been documenting her son’s trials with the disease, sharing moments like these on social media.
Liam was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia B-cell in January 2020 and has been enduring chemo nearly every day since then.
After three and a half years, he is now nearing the end of his treatment and is officially done with chemotherapy.
“He’s been on chemo every day since he was diagnosed, minus the days his counts were too low for his body to handle the chemotherapy,” the stay-at-home mom said, adding that Liam’s type of cancer has an extremely high risk of relapse.
“He has been dealing with this for three and a half years and we’re in the end process now,” she said. “There have been no blasts in his blood, so he is officially done with chemo.”
Sister Akira wasn’t even born when Liam was diagnosed, but he became really attached to her while Ms. Hardy was still pregnant.
“Liam grew such an attachment with Akira in my belly because we spent so much time together in the hospital, and he would rub my belly and talk to her,” Ms. Hardy said. "Once Akira was born I was just so scared she would be a nervous baby, but she came out and is the happiest child.
“I wholeheartedly believe that it was Akira that kept Liam fighting so hard.
“He knew he was her big brother, and he had to be there for her.”
Ms. Hardy has been unable to work since Liam was diagnosed and has struggled to fund his healthcare due to complications with the insurance.
The family has been trying to raise money for Liam’s treatment.
According to Ms. Hardy, the family’s medical bills are “easily over $500,000.”
“I’ve been paying out of pocket for Liam’s medicine for God knows how long, and I’ve written letters to them, calls, and nothing is ever solved. I’m just told to wait,” she said.
“When you’re a single mom of three, you don’t really have time to wait but you also don’t have an option to just not get the medicine your cancer child needs because it is life or death.”
The family is in the process of crowdfunding for a “port removal” that removes the device in Liam’s chest which allowed him to receive the chemo.
“Liam’s future looks so bright. He is currently doing physical therapy for his legs because they’re losing mobility due to the long use of chemo,” Ms. Hardy said. “His neuropathy has caused him to have severe drop foot and he walks on his tiptoes.”
As this school year approaches, Liam will finally attend classes full-time.
“And start his new journey of being a normal kid!” his mom said. “We couldn’t be more proud and I couldn’t be more excited to see my son finally get the opportunity to be a kid and have nothing hold him back.”
