5-Year-Old Dies Days After Heartbreaking Photo With Grandfather

GULF BREEZE, FL — A 5-year-old Florida girl has died days after a photo of her lying in a hospital bed next to her crying grandfather, who is battling his own health problems, was shared thousands of times. Braylynn Lawhon of Gulf Breeze died on Monday, according to a crowdfunding page created for her.

On Dec. 6, days before her fifth birthday, Braylynn was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, an aggressive tumor located in the middle of her brain and attached to her brain stem. The Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation says less than 1 percent of kids diagnosed with DIPG survive for five years.

Braylynn never got the chance to receive radiation treatment or try the first experimental treatment in Mexico, said Braylynn's Battalion, a Facebook group dedicated to raising money for her. She had been in hospice since the evening of Jan. 6.

A day later, Braylynn's mother, Ally Parker, shared a heartbreaking photo of the girl at The Studer Family Children's Hospital at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. She was hooked up to tubes and wires as her grandfather Sean Peterson sobbed beside her. Peterson, 49, is reportedly battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and can't speak or swallow.

Parker told NBC's "Today" show she didn't mean for the picture to reach as far as it did. She had taken it to "capture a memory" and remind herself that "this was real and it was happening."

On Facebook alone, the photo was shared nearly 5,000 times. More than 13,000 people engaged with the post and it was seen by countless others when national media outlets picked it up.

Peterson hoped to one day join his granddaughter on a couch and watch the popular kids show "My Little Pony," Parker said.

People came out in droves to support Braylynn. Beth Peterson-Hickman, Sean Peterson's ex-wife, said she nicknamed Braylynn "Belle" from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" before the girl was born because her initials were B.E.L. She told USA Today that some people sent the family several Belle dresses to bury her in, along with tiaras, slippers and small gloves.

The family was "overwhelmed" by the amount of money raised for the girl. They plan to use it for her funeral and medical treatments, and they also want give her sister Lilly something to remember Braylynn. Money will also be donated to the McKenna Claire Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness, increasing community involvement and funding research for pediatric brain cancer.

About 300 children, mostly between 5 and 9, are diagnosed with the disease every year, according to Boston’s Children’s Hospital.

"We may not be able to bring her back, but she may be able to help other babies from dying in the future," a post on Braylynn's GoFundMe page said.

Patch has reached out to the family and will update if we hear back from them.

Photo credit: GoFundMe