Help This Family Fulfill 5-Year-Old Billy's Last Wishes
Billy Lee, 5, has terminal brain cancer. His parents are hoping to raise money to help making his final dreams come true. (Photo: GoFundMe)
The parents of a 5-year-old boy with terminal cancer have set up a GoFundMe page in hopes of helping their son enjoy his final days.
Billy Lee was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, when he was 3. But after his most recent cycle of chemotherapy, which was especially hard on him, Billy’s parents learned the treatment wasn’t working. “We talked to the doctor and tried to find other options but there weren’t any treatments that were viable,” Chris Lee, Billy’s father, tells Yahoo Parenting. So a week ago, after talking with their doctors, the Lees decided to stop Billy’s treatments altogether. “We decided to think about quality of life and try to make him happier.”
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Doctors have estimated that Billy has about three months to live, and his parents are determined to spend every moment with their son. The Lees of Houston, Texas, set up a GoFundMe page (which has received more than 11K in donations in just 11 days) to make it possible to take time off from their jobs—Chris works for an electrical company, Billy’s mother Kellan sells cosmetics—and to enable them to fulfill Billy’s every last wish. “What we are hoping to do is take time away from work and just be with him,” Chris says. “And at the same time, when he loves a toy, instead of telling him he needs to wait, we want to get it for him. When he wants to go to the aquarium, we want to go to the aquarium. We don’t want to tell him to wait, because waiting isn’t really an option.”
Billy Lee, 5, after a recent trip to Chuck E. Cheese. (Photo: GoFundMe)
The Lees are limited in what activities they can do with their son, because he has a sensitivity to light and loud noises. “He’s not in any pain,” Chris says. “But we tried to take him to see The Avengers and 30 minutes in he asked to leave – it was too much noise, his eyes were bothering him. And his energy level is down.”
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This week, the Lees took Billy to Chuck E. Cheese, which Chris says is one of his favorite places. “He goes from game to game and collects tickets for toys at the end,” Chris says. They’ve also been able to get him some of the more elaborate Lego sets, and the Lees are hoping to take Billy to Universal Studios to see the Transformers 3D Ride one day. “We’re waiting on clarification from the doctors as to whether it’s safe to fly.”
But even more than big trips or adventures, Chris says Billy loves to be with friends and family. “He’s happiest with a big group of people in the house, with friends over having a barbecue,” Chris says. “He loves going to friends’ houses, or just being around lots of people. He’s a pretty simple kid.”
On the GoFundMe page, the Lees describe their dreams for Billy. “Our overall goal is to make the last days he has as enjoyable and pain-free as possible,” they write. “To give him what every kid wants but rarely gets. If there were ever a child that deserves this it is our son Billy. After all of the battles he’s had it is finally time for him to relax.”
The GoFundMe donations will all be put toward making it possible for the Lees to be with their son. “We still have a daily life and bills and things that normal people have,” Lee says. “But hopefully these donations will help us soak up every last minute with our son.”
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