Meet the Kids
Read the stories of these brave children who are battling or have battled DIPG.
Meet Avery Huffman
Aves was a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a granddaughter and a friend to so many. On June 30th, 2015, our sweet Avery was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a cancerous tumor that is inoperable. Officially, she was diagnosed with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma). She received her radiation treatment at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma.
Avery bravely battled DIPG with her “#AveryStrong” attitude and it spread throughout the country via social media, with a number of college football and college basketball coaches spreading the word about Avery and DIPG Awareness. In July 2015, Avery was named an honorary princess of Arendelle by Princess Anna herself, and the new title brought Avery and DIPG Awareness attention from media outlets like Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, USA Today, ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX as well as Scout, Yahoo and Sporting News.
Avery’s mother and father, Amanda and Brandon, documented her fight against DIPG daily and her older sister Alexandra, older brother Cade and younger sister Addison have been with her step-by-step daily during her battle.
Avery enjoyed swimming, playing on the playground, watching Full House and Peppa Pig, the movie Frozen, especially Princess Anna, the color green and pink, watching her brother play baseball and her sister play soccer, eating pizza and chicken squares, playing with her mommy and singing Frozen songs with her daddy. She loved her bunny rabbit HoppyJumpy, her puppy Coco and her fish Pixie.
On February 16, at 11:11 a.m., our beautiful 7-year old daughter, Avery Hayden Huffman, peacefully, with her family by her side, went to heaven to be with the Lord.
She fought with strength, she fought with courage, she fought with bravery, she fought with grace and she fought with love.
She taught her mother and father, her brother and sisters, her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, what courage and bravery looks like.
She showed thousands, even millions of people, what love, what compassion and what strength truly is.
While our hearts are broken here on earth, we rejoice that Avery is no longer in pain, no longer is suffering, is walking, is running, is waving both her arms, can see clearly with both of her eyes and is in the kingdom of God. She is healed and she is cancer free.
Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
While we mourn her passing and her being away from us here, we know that Avery is where we aspire to be- in the presence of the Lord.
She will forever be in our hearts and on our minds.
It’s just goodbye for now, because we know where she is, safe in the arms of Jesus, and where we’re going.
And she will forever be in the presence of God and we yearn to see her and Him someday.
We love you, Avery.
Thank you for your love for us.
Avery’s battle against DIPG was documented on CaringBridge: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/averyhuffman, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/averystrong and on Twitter: @AveryStrongDIPG
Donations to the family to assist with expenses can be made here: http://www.talbertfamilyfoundation.org/pages/AveryH.html
AVERY HUFFMAN TRIBUTE FUND
Click on the “Donate” button below to make a tax-deductible donation to fund DIPG research in honor of Avery. An acknowledgment of the donation will be sent to Avery’s family. If you wish for a message to be included, please include it in the notes field, and it will be sent to the family. 100% of donations (minus any payment processing fees) will go to DIPG research.