Doctors first 'dismissed' this young girl's cancer symptom before her parents ... trends now
The distraught parents of an 11-year-old who died from a rare type of brain cancer have vowed to do whatever they can to make her final wish come true - a cure for the 'incurable' disease that killed her.
Evie Whipps, from Bunbury, Western Australia, was taken to a hospital emergency room on February 6, 2023 after displaying worrying eye problems.
Her symptoms were 'dismissed' by emergency department doctors and she was sent home, but she quickly deteriorated and was rushed to a Perth hospital a week later where she had an MRI scan, which revealed she had Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).
On February 14, her parents Pia and Joshua got the news that is 'every parent's worst nightmare' - that Evie could have less than a year to live.
This proved eerily accurate, and Evie died on January 22, 2024.
'We miss her every moment of every day, but we are glad she's no longer suffering,' her mum, who with her husband has set up the Evie Whipps DIPG Foundation, told Daily Mail Australia.
'We planned (what we are doing now) with Evie. Throughout the whole year with Evie, we discussed what she would want if she had to do it over again? So, we've basically modelled this foundation around what Evie would have wanted.'
The distraught parents of 11-year-old Evie Whipps (pictured), who died from a rare type of brain cancer, have vowed to do whatever they can to make her final wish come true
Evie, from Bunbury, Western Australia, was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma on Valentine's Day 2023
'DIPG slowly took away Evie's ability to see, hear, walk, move and eat, until she eventually died trapped fully conscious inside her failing body,' she said.
On the day Evie was diagnosed, Valentines Day 2023, her parents were told there was no treatment and no cure for the cancer slowly infiltrating her brainstem.
DIPG would slowly shut off her bodily functions until her breathing and heart would stop, but not before suffering through unimaginable pain.
Her parents have been inspired by their sporty, artistic and musical daughter who had 'a wicked sense of humour'.
'Evie fought for every single second she had on earth and her strength was unimaginable,' Ms Whipps said.
She said Evie's 'last words were really quite brutal, because she was just screaming.
'It was a strange sound but it was her attempting to scream because she just didn't want to die.
'She refused, and it was strange for us because we'd spoken about heaven and made it such a beautiful place for her.
'Not in a religious way, more just in a way to take away some of the fear of death.
'And so at the end when she was actively dying, she spent about 48 hours just repeatedly saying "I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
'She was screaming "I just wanna walk, let me walk, please let me walk. I just want this to go away. I want to get better. I wanna be normal".'
Ms Whipps said: 'As parents, I think it broke something that I don't think will ever be repaired.'
'She went through hell in the last few days of her life. Her actual death was horrific and painful and traumatising, and there was nothing peaceful about it.
'But we know that she's in a better place now. We genuinely feel relief. She is no longer in pain, she's no longer suffering.'
The Whipps have two other children, Sunny, who is 3 and Elsie, who is aged 6.
After Evie's death, 'Sunny spent a lot of time asking where she was because he didn't understand,' Ms Whipps said.
'And now we ask him where Evie is, he'll say she's in heaven, (though) he obviously doesn't even understand what heaven is or what it means.
'He does miss her though because Evie was a little mummy. She always was to all little kids. She was really important in Sunny's world.'
Elsie was best friends with her big sister and they did everything together.
'Elsie cries every day and she just says she misses her sister and she asks why couldn't we save Evie? Why didn't we save her?
'Because on a TV show if someone gets sick, they get better and they go home and so she just doesn't understand it.
'(But) she knows that Evie's not coming back.'
Big sister Evie Whipps is pictured holding and hugging her little sister and best friend Elsie
Evie Whipps' scarring after having brain surgery is pictured
When Evie was diagnosed, her parents were told to 'go home and make memories' as there were no treatment options and no cure, and that there was a zero per cent chance of survival.
'This was and is absolutely unacceptable to us. We've gotten to know experts in the field of DIPG and
