Hannah Day dies after seven-year battle with cancer
Hannah Day has lost her battle with cancer.
The nine-year-old Sooke girl, who touched hearts in the community with her seven-year struggle with the disease, was taken off life-support at B.C. Children’s Hospital May 10.
She had developed a bacterial infection that attacked her internal organs while being treated with chemotherapy for tumours in the brain and spine.
“Today, most will be celebrating Mother’s Day while I’m mourning the death of a child,” Hannah’s mother, Brooke Ervin, posted on Facebook on May 12.
Hannah endured seven years of intense treatment. In 2012, at age three, she was diagnosed with a rare cancer that attacks muscle tissue.
Sixteen months later, she was free of the original cancer, but in December 2013, she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Hannah’s doctors and her family turned to the community to find a stem-cell donor. Thousands lined up at stem-cell swab drives hoping to be the rare match that would help the little girl. In March 2014, Hannah received stem cells from her mother, although her mother was only half a match.
Hannah survived, but a year later was diagnosed again with leukemia, in May 2015.
In March, after complaining of excruciating headaches, Hannah was taken to Victoria General Hospital, then airlifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital, where she was found to have tumours in her brain.
No child should ever have to go through what Hannah did, Ervin wrote on Facebook.
“Every obstacle she fought so hard. Against odds she was still here. But this time, they gave her too much chemotherapy. It wiped her immune system further than they ever expected, allowing a bacterial infection to take over. Hannah didn’t stand a chance.”
The infection sent Hannah into septic shock, and Ervin and Hannah’s father, Robert Day, made the difficult decision to say goodbye.
“She deserved a beautiful life and it was cut short,” Ervin wrote.
In the post, Hannah’s mother thanked everyone for their love and support over the years.
Hannah is survived by her seven-yearold sister, Hailey, and one-year-old sister, Harper.