Zoey Catherine Daggett was born as a healthy child. At the time of her birth, her parents Casey and Benjamin, were very happy. Little did they know the little angel was born with a very short life.
Until the age of five, there was nothing wrong with Zoey, and she was living a normal life like any other child.
In July 2016, five-year-old Zoey suddenly fell down while she was out with her mom and dad and started limping.
“She fell at a park, and she was limping like she broke something that was really, really bad,” her mom, Casey told Daily Mail.
“We eventually took her to the hospital because the whole left side of her body wasn’t working.”
The doctors ran some tests, and after a day, it was revealed to Zoey’s parents that she had a brain tumor.
“Three weeks later, the diagnosis came back as DIPG,” per Daily Mail.
“We were in the hallway outside because Zoey was receiving radiation and we just thought: “Oh, cr*p”,” said Casey.
“We just thought: “Okay, this changes things”. We didn’t know what to do, where to go. We were told it’s pretty much a death sentence.”
The mother further said that she and her husband, Ben emailed every clinical trial they could find and were turned down by every single one.
“It was a really disheartening August and September,” she said.
Ultimately, the family found an immunotherapy treatment trial in Germany, so they rented an apartment and flew to Cologne, Germany, in October 2016.
Casey told Daily Mail that the trial on Zoey was successful.
“The tumor was shrinking, and Zoey was back to running fully with no side effects,” Casey said.
“She loved visiting the Christmas markets in Germany. We lived across the street from the Lindt chocolate factory, so she loved going to visit there.”
After a successful trial, the family of three returned to Fairport, New York. Three months later, they went back to receive further treatment.
In April 2017, Casey and Ben noticed their daughter limping again.
“An MRI showed that her tumor was growing back again.”
“The doctors told us the tumor was not responding to immunotherapy anymore,” said Casey.
By June 2017, little Zoey had stopped walking, eating, and talking.
A scan revealed that her tumor was spreading to other brain parts.
Things went downhill, and the little girl eventually passed away on July 4, 2018.
“I woke up that morning and I just started bawling my eyes out and I told Ben that I could tell this is just going to be the last day,” Casey sobbed.
A day after her passing, Casey and Ben shared a photo of her last moments on her Facebook page they titled Zoey’s Light.
“Zoey is going to be shared with the world. Her love and light have been abundant, and we will continue to pay it forward and share love and light with the world,” the caption of the photo read.
They also announced Zoey’s funeral details in the Facebook post.
The brave mother told Daily Mail that she and her husband, Ben shared the photo of their daughter’s final moments with other people to give them a message of hope.
“I shared it because even though it’s a painful moment, it’s a beautiful moment in our eyes,” she said. “It was a kind of peaceful moment for Ben and me. This is our reality and we wanted to show people every side of it.”
“Our path and our mission is to spread love and to spread it forward. Zoey would share food, share her toys, share chewing gum. She was full with love always even when she felt like utter poop. Still her happy, loving, giggling self,” she added.
“And we just want to be able to help others because that’s what our kid would have done.”
What are your thoughts on Zoey’s tragic story? Let us know in the comment section.
Sources: Daily Mail – Zoey’s Light on Facebook
That very sad that our country we live in turned her down that u all had go to Germany to get dr. But that was good for her probably gave her little longer with you all .Prayers for you very strong parents God had another plan for her .you can alway see her again
God Be with each of you. Lost my wife to cancer in 2016 sad but i understand how you have to move on also.
Wow two parents thst are so brave . My heart go out to both of you . Little Zoey fly high darling girl. Xxx
very sad how can any human being reject someone so sick. Those people who rejected her will never be human actually disgusting. money is evil, pharmaceutical same. RIP little angel and god help the parents not being able to see there baby grow.
Thank you so much for sharing Zoey’s story. Like others have mentioned… it’s awful that our own country wouldn’t help your little girl but another country was 100% there for you. Fly high sweetheart… keep an eye on your Mommy and Daddy 😉