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On June 18, seven-year-old Hayley Brown was diagnosed with soft tissue cancer.
One of her eyes had begun pointing in a different direction, which prompted her parents to take her to the hospital. It was there that doctors discovered a lump in Hayley’s nose and advised she begin chemotherapy treatments immediately.
For Hayley’s father, Andrew, the diagnosis came as a bit of an ironic shock. His job placed him in charge of comedy night shows that raised money to help cancer patients and their families. It never occurred to him that he would on day have to host a show for his own daughter.
Before treatment began, Hayley was “very emotional” about losing her hair. But, her father recalled, when her hair actually fell out, she kind of shrugged it off with an “oh.”
She was, however, left with her full set of lush eyelashes.
Everyone had always complimented Hayley on her eyelashes. Her older sister constantly expressed her jealousy, and even some of the hospital staff playfully greeted Hayley with, “How’s Hayley and her beautiful lashes today?”
Andrew was fairly emotional when Hayley’s lashes began falling out.
“One day she was complaining about something in her eye,” he recalled. “The lashes were all coming out one at a time.”
Earlier this week, Andrew shared a photo of Hayley and the final eyelash she had. It had clung on by itself for three weeks before falling out, soon after Andrew took the photo.
While Andrew was upset by his daughter’s loss of hair, Hayley was more aware of how much energy she’d lost.
Over the course of her treatment, she’d lost around five pounds and is no longer able to run around on her own. Her father carries her a lot of places, while just six months prior, she was running around the yard with her sister.
Thankfully, Hayley’s tumor has reduced in size, but she still has five-and-a-half weeks of treatment left before doctors want to proceed with further steps.
Andrew plans on hosting a comedy night event in Hayley’s honor (and in honor of one of her older cousins who is also fighting cancer) on December 16. If you can support the family, please do so here.
