Father shares photo of daughter near end of cancer battle to raise awareness

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On Oct. 27, doctors at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital informed 4-year-old Jessica Whelan’s parents that she would only have weeks left to live. Her father, a photographer, snapped a photo showing his child suffering from the pain caused by neuroblastoma and shared it on Facebook, pleading with followers to raise more awareness for pediatric cancers.

“This is the hardest photograph I have ever made, it is in fact my own four-year-old daughter,” dad Andy Whelan wrote in the Oct. 29 post. “A few days ago she was given what is most likely only a few weeks to live after a battle against cancer that has been waged over twelve months. This photograph was made in a moment that we as parents could offer her no comfort, her pushing us away whilst she rode out this searing pain in solitude.”

Andy added that the sight of his daughter in pain has become a familiar sight for the family, day and night, more and more often.

“This is the true face of cancer, my baby [girl’s] blood vessels protruding from beneath her skin, a solitary tear running down her cheek, her body stiffened and her face contorted in pain,” the post, which has more than 3,000 shares and 8,000 likes, read.