MUSKEGON, Mich., — After two years of fighting cancer several times, 5-year-old Oscar Broca III has died. Family members tell FOX 17 the boy passed away Thursday morning. In recent weeks, he had been allowed to leave Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital to return home and spend Christmas with his family.
We first featured Oscar last month, shortly after his family received the devastating news that the disease was back and his condition was terminal.
Amanda Pastor, Oscar’s mother, said Oscar was first diagnosed in November 2012 with brain cancer, or Medulloblastoma, after experiencing severe headaches.
“That’s when they found the mass in the back of his head, it was the size of an egg,” she explained. “He had just turned three.”
Pastor said Oscar fought and beat it, and then beat cancer again when he relapsed a few months later. In May 2014 they were blindsided on Oscar’s Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World by the news that Oscar was sick once again. Doctors told the family it was a second cancer, Burkitt Lymphoma, in the stomach.
Oscar fought and won again, only to learn in November that the cancer was back. Doctors told the family there was nothing they could do other than radiation to help alleviate some pain.
The day before his death, Pastor posted this on Facebook:
“My son is my HERO AND ALWAYS WILL BE. He is never a give up person he always will fights no matter what. No matter how many times he got pushed he still is standing. He fought for two yrs n never once gave up… he is and always will be my HERO. I thank everyone for the support n love they have shown him and us. “
Without her knowing, Pastor’s sister established a “Go Fund Me” account last month, to raise money to help Oscar and his family. The online fundraiser has brought in more than $5,300 dollars so far.
Money is still being collected to help the family with expenses related to Oscar’s passing.
To learn more or to donate, click here.
