One month after seizing on the field, Avery passed away at home surrounded by her family.
Following the soccer match, doctors had given her a high dose of dexamethasone, a strong anti-inflammatory medication that allowed the family to bring their daughter home from the hospital. “It snapped her out of it and brought her back,” says Paul. “It bought us a month and a day to make a lot of memories and give us all a chance to say goodbye.”
The Lafferty family made casts of their hands held together and heartbeat recordings. Avery wrote messages to her loved ones, even as the cancer spread to other parts of her brain and made it difficult to process her thoughts. “We wouldn’t trade that month for anything,” says Paul.
On July 12, 2024, Avery’s family told her that it was okay to rest and that they would see her again one day. Her legacy lives on through Avery’s Little Army, which is striving to spread awareness about pediatric cancer, fund research, and support local families with their own battles. They have raised over $250,000 for organizations including Children’s Brain Tumor Project, The Cure Starts Now, the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The family hopes that drugs like KL-50 could soon help pediatric patients with glioblastoma who otherwise have few options. “It’s stunning when you hear your child has a diagnosis like this and you realize there’s nothing out there,” says Lisa. “What we love about Dr. Bindra is he always seemed innovative and knew this was a massive gap that needed to be funded.”
Paul says that the passionate doctors and researchers that the family came to know through Avery’s battle give him hope that one day there will be better treatments. “The soccer player is doing everything he can to win the game—that’s how these individuals do their research,” he explains. “It’s beyond just a paycheck for them. The passion they have to try to find a cure for these diseases is impressive.”