Oscar Knox, the young Belfast boy who captured the hearts of the nation in his fight against cancer, has died.
His parents Stephen and Leona announced the sad news this morning to the thousands of well-wishers who have followed Oscar's story and shown their support via
Twitter.
The youngster, dubbed 'Wee Oscar', had battled neuroblastoma since the age of two.
His parents last updated their blog on April 16th. In a touching post, they wrote:
"In the past 4 weeks Oscar has suffered more pain than we could have imagined, and more anguish than any 5 year old should ever know. He would scream and cry in agony that simply could not be eased, while morphine, sedatives and anti-anxiety medications were pumped into him 24 hrs/day. In the quiet times he said things like "I don't want to be a boy anymore", "I don't want to be me". We were pushed to the limit of what any parent could tolerate in terms of watching their child suffer.
"Oscar is now on an extremely high dose of diamorphine, more than nursing staff have known adult cancer patients to require, and thankfully those days are behind us. It is a miracle that Oscar is awake, and functioning, but that is our wee Oscar all over. I said to our wonderful consultant a couple of weeks ago "I don't think Oscar is going to give in to this diamorphine" to which he replied "Your son doesn't do giving up".
Tributes are already pouring in for the little fighter. May he rest in peace.
