Grieving Parents Reveal They’re Expecting a Baby 3 Months After Daughter Died of a Brain Tumor Adalynn Joy Sooter died of a brain tumor on June 3, now her parents are expecting their third child
It was three months ago that Matt and Chandra Sooter said goodbye to their 4-year-old daughter Adalynn Joy Sooter, who died from a brain tumor. Now, the couple has found a reason to smile in the wake of the tragedy, announcing that they are expecting their third child.
“Big news from the Sooter family!” Matt began in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Baby Sooter will be arriving late February 2019!”
The photo included three pair’s of children’s shoes, Adalynn’s, her older brother’s, and the new baby’s. A sonogram was placed in front of the smallest pair.
Adalynn quickly captured the heart of the nation as her parents tried desperately to save her after doctor’s found a massive tumor on her brain stem in November 2016. Adalynn’s journey came to an end on June 3, and her older brother Jackson was at her side, stroking his little sister’s hair in her final moments.
“A little boy should not have to say goodbye to his partner in crime, his playmate, his best friend, his little sister,” Matt wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
He added to PEOPLE: “It was a sweet moment, but not unexpected. Jackson has always been great with her and took very good care of her. He’s still a happy little boy, but he misses her.”
Adalynn, who the family called Addy, passed away at 1:04 a.m. that morning, 18 months after doctors found a tumor growing on her brain stem and diagnosed the girl with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DPIG).
“It crushed us,” Matt previously told PEOPLE of the moments he and Chandra first got the news. “To instantly feel so helpless is something no one should ever have to feel.”
Grieving Dad Shares Photo of Son, 6, Comforting 4-Year-Old Sister Before Her Death
Doctors delivered the diagnosis on Nov. 12, 2016, and gave Adalynn just months to live. But the Rogers, Arkansas, girl shocked medical officials when by surviving for more than a year, and her parents did all they could to get Adalynn the best treatment.
For nearly a year, they took the little girl to Monterrey for treatment and Matt says a single trip can last up to 12 days. Travel and medical expenses have cost the family more than $200,000. Before her death, Matt called Adalynn’s survival “purely incredible.” But, he added, that he knew her health was continuing to decline.
“We miss her terribly, but we’re also at peace knowing we did everything we could to try to help her and that she isn’t in pain anymore,” the grieving father previously told PEOPLE. “It was only, ‘See you later.’ We’ll see her again some day.”
