Girl From Viral Cancer Photo Dies, Breaking Family's Hearts

A 5-year-old Florida brain cancer patient who was diagnosed in December had died, less than two weeks after a photo of her crying grandfather went viral.

On Jan. 7, Braylynn's mother, Ally Parker, posted a heartbreaking photo on her Facebook page. It showed Braylynn in the hospital, connected to tubes and machines. Her grandfather, Sean Peterson, is seen in tears beside her. The photo was shared almost 5,000 times with more than 5,800 comments.

Parker explained to TODAY that her daughter's health rapidly deteriorated over the past two months. In November, she developed a lazy eye. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DGIP), a highly aggressive brain cancer that is difficult to treat, according to Boston Children's Hospital. She was rushed to the emergency room earlier this month and her health continued to get worse.

"Her pulse is barely there and we can not feel it, but we can hear it with a stethoscope. Nurses say she may not make it through the next hour, but miracles can still happen," Parker wrote on Jan. 7 with the now-viral photo.

Braylynn survived for a few more days, but died Jan. 15.

"We were told (the first night in the hospital) that she had between 24 and 48 hours," Parker told TODAY on Thursday. "The doctor who gave us that time frame came in later and told us she lifted the frame because she believed Braylynn could be fighting for several more weeks, even years."

Parker said she did not post the photo with the intent of seeing it go viral. "I had taken it just to capture a memory — to remind myself that this was real and it was happening," she said.

Peterson is also in poor health. He is fighting Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and a precancerous form of myeloma. Parker said Braylynn's death has hit him harder than others in the family.

"He hopes that one day, the two of them will be sitting on the couch together again, watching My Little Pony," Parker toldthe NBC morning show.

Parker hopes her daughter's story will raise awareness for DIPG.

"Someone needs to find a successful treatment for this so our kids stop dying," Parker wrote on Jan. 11. "This can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Until Braylynn's diagnoses, she had a cold maybe once or twice a year, and was over it in a day or two. That was the extent of her sickness. She was perfectly healthy, until last month. You can try to pretend that it can't happen to your child, but that's what I did and look at where it got me."

According to the Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation, medical research has yet to find a way to help children with the condition. Only 10 percent of children with DIG live for two years after the diagnosis. The median survival time is nine months.

Photo credit: Facebook/ Ally Parker