Lifestyle influencer Jennifer Burnham is grieving the loss of her four-year-old son.
The influencer announced her son’s passing via Instagram, saying, “Heaven welcomed our angel, Baxter, last Monday, Oct. 5th.”
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She continued, saying, “Baxter, from the moment you were born, you have always been our dream come true. You have the most perfect angelic face and the sweetest personality. You are always kind to everyone and always love holding a car in each hand or a bag of them with you everywhere you go… We love you always and forever.”
Jennifer later shared in a video posted on Oct. 15 that her son had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in April after he’d begun crossing his left eye.
While doctors initially diagnosed him with strabismus, which is not unusual for someone of Baxter’s age, a pre-surgery MRI revealed a diffuse midline glioma.
“Which, in the brain tumor world, is essentially the worst type of brain tumor that you can have, unfortunately,” Jennifer said in the updated video. “Because it’s in the brainstem and that’s inoperable, meaning it’s incurable.”
Doctors were able to perform surgery to remove part of the tumor that was on Baxter’s cerebellum. In addition, Jennifer and her husband Bryce tried several other treatments, including proton radiation.
Jennifer shared how her son had been strong through all the treatments, saying no child or parent should ever go through this type of pain.
“I know he’s in heaven and just playing with his cars and trucks and eating cookies and ice cream and having the best time,” she said. “And that gives me comfort as a mom, just knowing that he’s no longer in pain.”
Though “it doesn’t change the fact that my heart is broken,” she added. “I’m just, like, not sure how to continue living every day. It’s so hard to just fathom my life without him, because he is such a big, full part of it.”
Jennifer and her husband also share another son, 1-year-old Barron.
Jennifer has over 104,000 followers on Instagram and is known for sharing lifestyle, motherhood, and cooking content.
