Photos can sometimes capture pure emotion, offering a lens into the thoughts, feelings and experiences of those depicted within. This is surely the case in a stirring picture that was shared on the Love What Matters Facebook page on Monday.
It’s a photo of a little boy named Drake, who faces some serious struggles as he bravely battles leukemia.
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The image shows the 10-year-old boy standing in the middle of the family bathroom, wearing only a Pull-Up diaper. He’s visibly uncomfortable as he leans on the sink. Overall, the photo is hard to look at, as the expression on Drake’s face shows his intense pain, discomfort — and the overarching dire impact cancer is having on his life.
"For anyone battling cancer or enduring chemotherapy. For anyone going through this horrible disease. It is about to get…
Posted by Love What Matters on Monday, February 20, 2017
In a post along with the photo, which was originally uploaded to the Stinky Joe’s #1 Pit Crew Facebook page on Feb. 15, Drake’s mother explained why she chose to share the harrowing image.
“The picture I’m posting is from this morning, and before you scream and cry ‘why would she post a picture of him in a pull up, the indecency’, well 1. It doesn’t show more than swimming jammers would,” she wrote. “And 2. Because life is not always politically correct and pretty, it is real. Life isn’t pretty, and cancer destroys a person.”
The post went on the explain the toll leukemia is taking on Drake, who first fell ill with the disease in 2012.
“He is in a pull up because 75 percent of the time he can’t control his bathroom habits. This is skin and bones, because I have to beg him to eat ONE green bean for supper, or drink a cup of water throughout the day,” she added. “This is having your son sleep with you at night because he is afraid of something happening and being alone, and by something I mean dying.”
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The post continued, sharing Drake’s struggles with exhaustion, illness, chemo treatment, and again reaffirming the reason for sharing the tough-to-look-at image. “This is him and me, and our world,” his mom wrote.
In an updated post on Stinky Joe’s #1 Pit Crew Facebook page on Monday, Drake’s mom shared that the little boy is currently in the hospital dealing with dehydration, among other issues; he will likely be staying there for the next few days, as doctors discuss feeding tubes, among other treatments to help “build his body up.”
“NEVER GIVE UP, ALL DAY, EVERY DAY,” the post concludes, promising to share new information on the little boy as it emerges.
Let’s lift up little Drake in prayer.
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