Dedicated to Billie Carter who died suddenly on 8/24/24 due to undiagnosed cancer. We were out getting food that afternoon and Billie suddenly struggled to breathe. Her heart stopped within 10 minutes of her initial symptoms and despite extremely fast and thorough life saving efforts, her heart never started again. We found out after her death that she had cancer.
Her original cause of death was neuroblastoma, but Seattle Childrens reviewed her tumor and diagnosed her cancer as germ cell tumor. Billie was our first daughter and truly words could never describe the magnitude of both our love for her and her loss. She was a smart, silly, observant girl who learned so quickly just by watching. She loved Frozen and was starting to learn how to sing the songs. We believe she would have loved singing as she got older. She also loved unicorns, bluey, yogurt with peanut butter, berries, and chappell roan.
When she died a large part of Will and I’s soul died with her. She lives on through her younger brother and sister and we continue living despite always having half our hearts in the afterlife with Billie, forever dreaming of what her life should have been.
I can personally vouch for Seattle children’s because they provided genetic counseling for us, re-examined Billie’s tumor cells and gave us more insight into her disease, and have given us access to their oncology department for testing for Billie’s siblings. This hospital deserves support.
Billie’s cancer was so silent and deadly that we did not get a diagnosis before her death despite a sick visit and her 2.5 year physical both within 10 days of her sudden death. We urge everyone to fight, donate, and raise awareness because Billie was never even given the chance to fight.
