Cambridge girl, 7, loses long battle with cancer
CAMBRIDGE — Katie Star Herron, the Cambridge girl with the twinkling middle name, has lost her long battle with a rare form of leukemia.
Herron, 7, died at home on Tuesday. Her parents, Anne and Paul, were with her.
“I’m just heartbroken seeing her go,” her father Paul told the Cambridge Times on Wednesday. “It was just horrible and will be forever embedded in our minds.”
On Wednesday, the flag outside Coronation Public School, where Katie had been a student, flew at half-mast in her memory.
Katie battled cancer four times since she was a toddler.
She even had a life-prolonging bonemarrow transplant from an anonymous donor three years ago. Locally, 777 people came out to be tested as potential donors for Katie at a stem-cell match clinic in Cambridge.
Her match was found elsewhere and her operation was a success. She eventually returned to dance class and eyed a return to regular school.
But the cancer kept returning. Recently, she was sent home from SickKids in Toronto. Her weary body needed rest and a miracle.
Katie had been fighting for her life since the family’s return from vacation in the Dominican Republic in 2010. She was 15 months old and started walking. Suddenly, she wanted to be carried. She craved sleep as dark circles formed around her eyes.
A pediatrician knew something was wrong. Tests confirmed the cancer she would spend the rest of her life struggling to overcome. She would have turned eight in April.
On Wednesday morning, her father posted the sad news on the thousandmember Hope for Katie Star public group Facebook page. Katie, who had so often found comfort in snuggling her twin stuffed lambs Matthew and Marshmallow, was gone.
“Our beautiful, brave and courageous little girl took her last breath in our arms at home yesterday at 5:30 p.m.,” Paul Herron posted. “Our beautiful Angel has gone to heaven, she will be missed forever. Life will never be the same without you sweetheart. Miss you like crazy! Love mommy and daddy. Xoxoxo”
As of Wednesday afternoon, memorial services had not been announced.