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A 15 year-old Alabama boy that caught the attention of President Trump in his battle with stage four brain cancer has died.
Will Roberts made a plea for help on his mom’s Facebook page on April 22, appealing to the president and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr after battling osteosarcoma for 16 months.
In his post, he said the chemo wasn’t working, they had tried everything and needed help, noting his mom had been researching an experimental drug.
His message eventually spread to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who got the family in touch with the Sarcoma Oncology Center in Santa Monica, which offers “innovative clinical trials and experimental treatments to offer hope for those facing hard-to-treat cancers.”
Roberts made an appointment and flew across the country to California for treatment, thanking his backers for helping get him to the Golden State. His family would later end up in San Diego at Rady Children’s Hospital for care.
In a heartbreaking update on Thursday, Roberts’ mom, Brittney shared her son had died, after sharing last week doctors said his time on this earth was very short.
“Will is finally ringing his forever cancer free bell as he entered the gates of Heaven!” her post read.
She said and her husband Jason were there by his bedside when he died after they when they made the decision to “stop the suffering,” and increased sedation and removed oxygen.
“At 12:45am(central time)today, on my birthday, our precious Will took his final breath on this earth and entered the presence of Jesus,” Brittney wrote.
“Will was so much more than cancer. Will was the funniest person in the room. Will had a personality that could light up a hospital floor.”
“Will was stubborn enough to drive us crazy one minute and make us laugh the next,” she added. “Will loved hard, fought harder, and never stopped believing there was another mountain to climb.”
Brittney said her son fought the cancer until it “showed more progression of disease in his brain affecting his mental capacity.”
She also thanked everyone who had been there for them over the past 19 months as they walked this journey, including total strangers becoming family and churches across the country praying for him
Brittney documented the journey Will and his family have been on her Facebook, including the highs and lows as they went through waiting for MRI and PET scan results, and racing across town to see one specialist after another in the fight against his cancer.
There was even a messages on her Facebook from Trump inviting Will to come see him in the Oval Office, saying he’s with him in his battle.
Her posts are filled with moments of hope, including updates that the drug is working, sharing scans showing there was progress, along messages sharing how proud of her son she was for handling almost two years of “absolute hell” and how the bone cancer had spread to his brain.
“Most grown adults would have folded under half of what this child has carried,” she wrote.
By the end of June and first part of July, she said things took a turn for the worst, with inflammation throughout Will’s entire body, sharing her son was in tremendous pain and exhausted.
Following the tragic news about Will’s passing, Dr. Oz shared a touching message to the family.
“We just lost a remarkable young man,” the post read. “Will Roberts faced advanced osteosarcoma with extraordinary courage, surrounded every step of the way by the unwavering love of his parents and a medical team that pursued every advanced treatment modern medicine could offer.”
“Some battles remind us how much work remains.”
“Let’s honor Will by redoubling our commitment to finding cures so that no more families have to endure this devastating disease,” he added.
English (US)