While her photo "True Face of Cancer" broke the Internet's heart, 4-year old Jessica Whelan fought the disease bravely for over a year, but sadly passed away last Sunday in her father Andy's arms,
just three weeks after he had shared the heartbreaking photograph of his
little girl as "the true face of cancer."
In the black and white still,
Jessica is seen wrenching in pain, with a tube coming out of her right
nostril and a single tear cascading down her right cheek.
On Sept 23, 2015, 4-year-old Jessica Whelan was diagnosed with neuroblastoma,
a cancer that typically affects children 5-years-old and younger,
usually found in the adrenal glands but also in the neck, chest, or
spinal cord.
While this photo might be a rare and challenging
perspective for Facebook viewers, it's part of Whelan and his family's
routine: "A familiar sight that we see regularly through each day and
night," he wrote on Facebook, "its frequency now more often."
"This
photograph was made in a moment that we as parents could offer her no
comfort, her pushing us away whilst she rode out this searing pain in
solitude," Whelan explained. "This sadly, for us as a family, is not a
sight that we see rarely. This is now a familiar sight that we see
regularly through each day and night, its frequency now more often. This
is the true face of cancer, my baby girls blood vessels protruding from
beneath her skin, a solitary tear running down her cheek, her body
stiffened and her face contorted in pain."
He
added that he was sharing the photo to raise awareness. "If this serves
as a purpose to make people think twice about this evil and put into
perspective what [cancer] does to a child then it has achieved its
purpose. Research needs to be done, cures need to be found, too long now
has this been allowed to happen."
