"That one last eyelash has been hanging on, on its own, for a few weeks now."
That was the caption under a heartbreaking photo that Australian dad Andrew Brown posted of his little girl, 7-year-old Hayley, in October 2016.
This brave little girl has been facing something no child should ever have to experience: chemo treatments, one after another, for a cancerous tumor that started in her nose.
Cancer is a frightening diagnosis at any age, but when we see kids courageously facing this terrifying illness — like little Jessica fighting through the pain of terminal neuroblastoma — it's especially devastating.
Brown's powerful photos of Hayley throughout her illness capture the poignant transformation of a healthy little girl into a child putting everything she has into fighting the disease.
Still, even as his photos show the shattering cost of cancer treatment, they also show an incredible little girl who loves princesses and Batman, and who has never let cancer shake her love for life.
[H/T: Kidspot]
In October 2016, Australian dad Andrew Brown took to Facebook to post a photo that was destined to resonate far and wide.
The picture, snapped several weeks earlier, is of his daughter Hayley, just 7 years old and shouldering the tremendous burden of cancer treatment.
The photo shows the last of Hayley's long, beautiful eyelashes, and is captioned, "That one last eyelash has been hanging on, on its own, for a few weeks now."
Hayley has been undergoing "hard and heavy" chemotherapy treatments for months now, Brown told Kidspot.
Chemotherapy is one of the most effective cancer treatments, but it has a laundry list of nasty side effects, including nausea, body aches, and hair loss.
Hayley had been slowly losing the hair on her head for a matter of months.
Even as her long brown locks slowly disappeared, Hayley's stunning long lashes remained.
Nurses and hospital staff commented on how beautiful they were, and how incredible it was that they'd outlasted her hair for so long.
Then she told her parents that there was something in her eye, and they realized that her lashes were falling out one by one.
Parents Andrew and Leia Brown first became concerned about their little girl over the summer, when they noticed her eyes were crossing.
They took her to the doctor, where they discovered the root of the problem is a large cancerous mass growing inside her nose.
They waited for breathless weeks before doctors were able to confirm that it was not brain cancer.
The good news is that the soft tissue cancer afflicting Hayley has a better prognosis than the brain cancer they feared.
Still, it's been incredibly difficult for the Browns, who have two older kids, to watch their youngest suffering through the treatments.
As Brown explained to LittleThings, it's important to understand "just how shy Hayley is. Most doctors and nurses still haven't even heard her voice and we are four and a half months in."
Though Hayley is quiet, the ups and downs of radiation and chemotherapy haven't taken any of her spirit.
According to the caption on this photo, she's pictured here helping her dad get back to sleep after a nightmare. "Someone woke up from a nightmare. Luckily I had Hayley there for comfort," her father wrote.
Brown is a comedian who has been raising money for cancer treatment for years, long before Hayley's diagnosis. Now he's turning his comedic chops toward raising money for his little girl through a series of comedy shows in the family's hometown of Melbourne, Australia.
The best news of all is that Hayley's intensive radiation and chemo treatments seem to be working; her tumor is already shrinking.
She has a little over a month of radiation and two rounds of chemotherapy ahead of her. Once that's done, they'll figure out the next step to help Hayley get healthy again.
If you want to help support Hayley and her family in this challenging time, you can learn more on their MyCause page. Make sure to SHARE and raise awareness for brave Hayley!
