She blew out the candles from heaven.
A Texas father threw a birthday party for his daughter on Sunday — six months after she lost her brave fight with brain stem cancer at age 6.
“She asked me, ‘I’m going to have a birthday party in October, right?” John Shuman told CBS 11. “You are always going to have a birthday party.”
Ileana Shuman passed away in April, less than one year after her diagnosis. While she didn’t live to see her seventh birthday, her father followed through on his promise to celebrate the big day.
The party, held in a local McKinney church, included Ileana’s best friends from kindergarten. Many attendees, including her father and sister, shaved their heads to raise money for cancer research.
“If they could go through this, shaving my head is nothing,” friend Joe Mehring told CBS.
Following the diagnosis, Ileana was in relatively good health until January, when the cancer became more aggressive. Chemotherapy could not stop the cancer from spreading and Ileana lost the battle on Apr. 9.
On her seventh birthday, though, her presence was felt by family and friends.
“She really loved to whack the piñata,” her father said as he watched his daughter’s pals do exactly that.
Read more: NY Daily
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