Boy, 9, Holds His Newborn Baby Sister Before Dying of Cancer
A 9-year-old boy was able to spend his last days with his baby sister, who was born just weeks before he died of terminal cancer.
Bailey Cooper, of England, died on Christmas Eve, but not before he got to meet baby Millie, who was born in November.
“Bailey was smitten with Millie and done everything he could in his three short weeks with her,” his dad Lee Cooper, 30, told InsideEdition.com. “He fed her, he changed her [diapers], he sang to her to get her to sleep, he cuddled her until he couldn’t physically hold her no more.”
Bailey could be seen cradling his baby sister in his arms on the day before he died, in a photo licensed to SWNS.
Cooper said his son was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the summer of 2016, and despite twice being in remission, the cancer returned in August 2017. Doctors made the grim prognosis that he would not have much time left.
By then, Bailey’s mom Rachel Cooper, 28, was pregnant with their third child.
“At the time of the pregnancy, my wife and I and his doctors didn’t think Bailey would be around to meet his baby sister,” Cooper explained.
But Bailey held on, and spent the last weeks of his life being an ideal older brother.
“Bailey was absolutely besotted with meeting her,” his dad said. “Bailey would have never left her side and [would have done] everything with her like he does with his younger brother. They would have been best friends as well as siblings, and would have been inseparable.”
RELATED STORIES
10-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Donates More Than 10,000 Toys to Charity
Hours After 27-Year-Old Died of Cancer, Family Reveals Letter She Wrote: 'I Don't Want to Go'
Boy, 2, Dies After Unforgettable Visit From Santa While in Hospice Care
