“This is the true face of cancer,” wrote heartbroken father Andy Whelan of this photograph he took of his four-year-old daughter Jessica as she wanes in agony.
Jessica, who has been battling stage four neuroblastoma for 13 months, has just weeks to live after Mr Whelan and his partner Nicki Prendergast decided to stop treatment in a bid to allow the sick child to enjoy whatever time she has got left.
Mr Whelan, from Clayton-Le-Moors in England, says he agonised over sharing the black and white photo of his daughter but, as he explains in a lengthy Facebook post he believes it’s important to show just devastating cancer can be. The electrician hopes that the confronting image will move people to band together to find a cure.
“This is the hardest photograph I have ever made,” he wrote in the picture caption.
“A few days ago she was given what is most likely a few weeks to live. This was taken at a moment where we as parents could offer no comfort – Jessica pushing us away as she rode out her searing pain in solitude.”
Andy Whelan with daughter Jessica. PHOTO: Jessica Whelan.
Jessica was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma on September 23, 2015. Initially her doctors had reportedly thought she was suffering from a bone infection when she had complained of pains in her arm. Later tests revealed a mass around her liver and found she had late stage cancer, reports the Telegraph.
Jessica Whelan. PHOTO: Facebook.
Mr Whelen told of how this sight – the image of his daughter in intense suffering – was becoming more common as she comes closer to the end.
“This is now a familiar sight that we see regularly through each day and night, its frequency now more often,” he wrote.
“This is the true face of cancer, my baby girl’s blood vessels protruding from beneath her skin, a solitary tear running down her cheek, her body stiffened and her face contorted in pain.”
The UK father explained that he could write about how difficult it’s been to see something like this happen to his family but said “these words would fall short of truly depicting the sight we see.”
“With this photo I do not mean to offend or upset, I do mean however to educate and shock those that see it in its context,” Whelan wrote.
“Perhaps by seeing this photo people not in our position will be made aware of the darkness that is childhood cancer, perhaps these same people may be able to do something about it so that in the future no child has to suffer this pain, so that no parent has to bear witness to their own flesh and blood deteriorating daily.”
Jessica Whelan. PHOTO: Facebook.
Resigned to the tragic fact that his child will die from her illness the distraught dad hopes that no one else has to go through this.
“Please I beg of you, as a heartbroken father, it is too late for my daughter, but childhood cancer needs to be cured,” wrote Mr Whelan.
“No family should have to go through this hell.”
According to Neuroblastoma Australia, neuroblastoma (neruro= nerve, blastoma = collection of cells) is the most common solid tumour of childhood.
This cruel disease is almost exclusively a childhood cancer occurring most commonly between the ages of 0-5 years and affects about 40 children in Australia each year.
Because it is rare family doctors find it hard to diagnose but the cancer can be deadly, accounting for 15 per cent of all paediatric cancer deaths in Australia, reports the Children’s Cancer Institute.
“There are many different types that behave very differently,” says Neuroblastoma Australia. “At one end of the spectrum are benign tumours that may even resolve spontaneously, while at the other end are aggressive tumours with an average survival rate of 40 per cent.”
According to the organisation, the cure rate for “high-risk” tumours has only improved marginally in recent years but there is clear hope that this rate will change with some new drug discoveries coming through – something that Jessica Whelan’s father would like to see happen sooner, rather than later.
Donate to Jessica’s GoFundMe page to help her enjoy her final days, and to give her extra care and support.
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