'I'm not giving up': 10-year-old with rare cancer granted wish to spend her final days at the beach
CLEVELAND, Texas (KTRK) -- Blaklee Edwards is just 10 years old. But she's already been through more than most of us can imagine.
"I'm still going. I'm not giving up because I want to be here with my mom," she said.
Blaklee was 2 years old when she was first diagnosed with a Wilms tumor, a rare kidney cancer that mainly affects children.
After years of surgeries, chemotherapy, and painful nights in the hospital, her tumor is back and closing off her trachea.
After consultation with doctors, Blaklee decided to forgo further treatment and will spend her final days surrounded by family.
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"I want her to do whatever she wants to do. It doesn't matter what it is, we'll do it, just so she knows that she's loved," her mother, Laci Edwards, said. "I think she knows that."
"She's had to make decisions that no 10-year-old should have to make," Blaklee's grandmother, Janet Jackson, said. "There's nothing fair about it."
When treatment no longer works, you focus on memories, and Blaklee, just like so many, loves the beach.
The Arias family says they understand Blaklee's present and future too well.
Their daughter, Abigail, was diagnosed with the same rare kidney cancer.
Before Abigail died in 2019, she also fulfilled her dreams by becoming an honorary law enforcement officer.
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Her family now carries on her legacy with a nonprofit in her name and helping Blaklee is an honor for them.
"She knows she's going to die, but she's continuing to live," Ruben Arias, who founded Abigail's Reach with his family, said. "That's a hero. That's bravery."
The Arias family provided a beach house for the Edwards family for Blaklee. Several others, friends, and strangers reached out to give whatever they could.
The extra donations the family received will go toward memorial services.
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"These people are so giving. I have probably 300 texts I haven't been able to respond to," Sonja Britton, Blaklee's aunt, said. "I stay up until two in the morning, trying to thank everybody for anything they can do for her."
"I know I might not know some of the people that's been donating money, but I'm going to start praying for y'all, so you can have a blessed day like I do every day, for it to be easier on y'all, too," Blaklee said.
A GoFundme was set up for Blaklee.
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