Mom of 9-Year-Old with Cancer Slams Comment About Prolonging ‘the Inevitable’

The mom of a 9-year-old with stage 4 cancer is speaking out after receiving a message about her daughter’s blood transfusions.

In an Instagram post on Dec. 4, Kendra Bird — who has documented her daughter Brie’s cancer journey on social media — shared an update about Brie’s health, responding to a message critiquing her cancer treatments over the past few months.

“Every day feels scary to us,” wrote Kendra, whose daughter has been in hospice care for several months. “We are very much aware that physically, Brielle looks very sick, but she is still alert, wanting to have movie nights, holds long conversations, can’t wait to find the Elf on the Shelf every morning, and is excited to read books.”

Later in the caption, Kendra discussed her daughter’s blood transfusions — which Brie has been receiving every few weeks to boost her energy — saying that she had received a private message from an oncologist who told her that they “shouldn’t be giving [Brie] any more blood transfusions because blood is to save someone’s life, not prolong the inevitable.”

“How terrifying that some of our medical professionals have no heart,” wrote Kendra. “If you are a blood donor, I hope that you are very aware that your donation might go to a little girl that is fighting with everything in her, and if she survives for another week, or 18 years, it shouldn’t matter to you. You are providing life to someone who needs it!”

Kendra continued to open up about the message in a series of videos she posted later to her Instagram Stories.

“I receive a lot of messages in my inbox. The majority of them are so kind and loving and uplifting,” she said. “A very small percent are very rude and cruel people. The amount of times that I have been told that we need to stop feeding Brielle, stop giving her blood transfusions because of whatever reason — whether that’s because they think we’re ‘wasting’ the blood because she’s not going to survive anyway or it’s doing her a disservice because heaven forbid her life looks different than it did three months ago.”

Continued Kendra: “For some reason in people’s mind, a person that used to walk and is perfectly healthy and then their life changes and they can’t walk anymore — they in their mind cannot get over the fact that they’re probably suffering and it’s not worth living anymore.”

“Brielle has a very good life,” said the mom. “She’s fully mentally there. If someone were to walk into our home and ask Brielle whether she wanted to continue getting blood transfusions and living, or, you know, just getting sleepy and being done fighting, I can absolutely tell you which one she would pick. And she’s a fighter.”

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On Instagram, where Kendra has shared her daughter’s story, Brie has captured the hearts and minds of over 1 million followers — and even caught the attention of the Wicked cast over the summer, who surprised her with a care package and a private screening of Wicked: For Good several months before the movie-musical’s wide release.

In late November, on the day of the Wicked sequel’s international release, the Bird family celebrated the premiere date from their home, writing on Instagram that its November release date had “seemed so far away” when they had their private screening in September. 

“November 21st seemed impossible back in September, but here we are, defying gravity!” wrote Kendra on Instagram, adding that, because of her daughter’s health status, it was unlikely that they would be able to make it out to a local theater to see the movie again.