Family facing unimaginable double tragedy as grandfather dies at 7-year-old’s funeral
A Sydney family are dealing with an unimaginable tragedy after their beloved grandfather died just hours after farewelling his young grandson at a funeral.
“Warrior” Tommy, 7, died of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) — a highly aggressive form of childhood brain cancer — while surrounded by his loving family, on July 2, 2024.
However, just days later on Friday, July 12, Tommy’s beloved grandfather Stan collapsed while farewelling his grandson at a funeral.
At the end of the funeral service, Stan said goodbye to his grandson, then walked out of the chapel and collapsed.
Friends and family leapt into action and performed CPR on Stan, however, he was later that night pronounced dead at Blacktown hospital.
“He lived for his grandkids,” Amanda Adams-Bennett, Tommy’s mother and Stan’s daughter, told 7NEWS.com.au.
“He had such an amazing bond with Thomas … and when he collapsed, I thought at the time he must’ve just been so overcome with grief.”
Amanda says her life was first turned upside down in September 2023 when her little boy was diagnosed.
Tommy was “perfectly happy and healthy”, but had begun to fall over a few times and was a bit nasally.
“We just thought he was a bit sick,” she said.
“But then he started having these headaches where he would just scream … and his speech started going downhill.”
Amanda took Tommy to the doctor for a blood test, which revealed Tommy was low in iron, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary showed up.
Camera IconStan ‘lived for his grandkids’. Credit: Supplied
Camera IconStan was pronounced dead at Blacktown hospital. Credit: Supplied
“The doctor was quite dismissive, and I had to stand there and say my son is falling over… he’s having headaches, and he can’t speak properly … he’s either got a brain tumour or he’s had some sort of stroke,” she said.
After taking Tommy to the emergency ward for some further testing, the results confirmed the worst.
“We were taken into a private room which we knew wasn’t a good sign and at that point our whole lives were just shattered,” she said.
Tommy was diagnosed with DIPG — the deadliest form of childhood cancer, with no effective or specific treatments, and an average survival time after diagnosis of just 11 months.
On the day of Tommy’s older brother’s 11th birthday, he started radiation treatment, which would last six gruelling weeks.
“He was such a trooper and the radiation helped him,” Amanda said.
“We got our happy boy back for a bit.”
However, it wasn’t long until tests confirmed a second tumour had grown and Amanda was told the worst.
“The doctors said it could be less than a year or even six months left with him, so they said to go and make memories,” she said.
“As Tommy’s tumour progressed, DIPG took away our little boy’s ability to walk, talk, laugh, smile, eat and eventually, his ability to breathe.
“Tommy touched the lives of so many, in his 10 months throughout his battle, he suffered so much but never complained. Nothing much worried Tom, except the thought of his mum being sad, or the thought of losing us.”
Meanwhile, Amanda said her dad had “no enemies in the world”.
“He was a beautiful man … I don’t have enough words to describe him,” she said.
“He was so respectful, he was so gentle, he was so patient.”
Stan was a beloved postie for Australia Post for 53 years, Amanda explained.
“Dad was a genuine role model for so many, a true gentleman, a man of honesty, integrity, and respect,” she said.
“He worked hard, he was a proud man, he loved his family more than anything, and he lived for his kids and grandkids.”
Camera IconTommy’s selfless final act was to donate tissue from his DIPG tumour for research. Credit: SuppliedCamera IconSince farewelling her beloved son and dad, Amanda has organised a fundraising page to help support her mother Lin. Credit: Supplied
Since farewelling her beloved son and dad, Amanda has organised a fundraising page in order to help support her mother Lin.
“Im doing what I can to raise money for my amazing mum so she can afford to pay for dads funeral, and other expenses / bills and to keep her family home after losing my wonderful dad,” she said.
Meanwhile, Amanda also hopes to continue to raise awareness of DIPG.
“We will forever play our part in raising awareness of DIPG and do what we can to push for the funding this horrible disease needs to help find a cure and save other children and their families from this suffering, devastation, and heartbreak,” she said.
In fact, Amanda added Tommy’s selfless final act was to donate tissue from his DIPG tumour for research.
“Playing his part to hopefully help sick kids in the future. A legacy that will last forever,” she said.
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