8-Year-Old Girl Who Loved Dogs And Became Famous For It Passes Away After Battle With Rare Brain Tumor

Nov 20, 2019 by apost team

Emma Mertens, an 8-year-old girl from Hartland, Wisconsin, passed away recently after her battle with brain cancer. Before her passing, the little girl had gone viral for her love of dogs and thousands of people sent her photos of their dogs with messages during her battle with the condition.

According to Emma's support social media page, she passed away at home in the arms of her mother and father on Sunday. According to her crowdfunding page, her family's nightmare started with their daughter suffering from headaches and flu-like symptoms in the beginning of the year.

On January 23rd, the diagnosis was official—Emma had DIPG. Most commonly found in children between the ages of 5 to 10, this cancer was located in the brain stem and could affect Emma’s balance, her vision, her ability to chew and more.

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While receiving radiation therapy to help combat the DIPG, a Facebook post requested people send in pictures of their dogs to bring a little joy into Emma’s life. People responded. In fact, over 80,000 people responded by flooding the Mertens’ mailbox (they had to set up a P.O. box to handle the influx of photos) with photos of their favorite pups. 

The family had to ask people to post their pics to the ‘Team Emma’ Facebook page. Their home was being taken over by the generous photos and postcards sent by strangers!

Emma's family said about her passing, "She fought hard against a DIPG Brain Tumor but it was time to go home and leave the pain behind. In her final hours, she was told how much she was loved and that it was ok to go to God. She will be dearly missed." 

They also ask that instead of gifts and flowers that condolences be made to Emma's foundation which aims to help animals. 

Our deepest condolences go out to Emma's friends and family. Please pass this article along so others may know about Emma's life.