A 15-year-old Alabama boy whose fight against stage four brain cancer drew attention from President Donald Trump has died.
Will Roberts turned to his mother’s Facebook page on April 22 with a public plea for help, addressing both the president and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after 16 months of battling osteosarcoma.
In the post, Will wrote that chemotherapy was not working, that his family had tried everything they could, and that they were desperate for help. He also noted that his mother had been researching an experimental drug.
His message eventually reached Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who helped connect the family with the Sarcoma Oncology Center in Santa Monica. The center describes its work as offering “innovative clinical trials and experimental treatments to offer hope for those facing hard-to-treat cancers.”
Roberts scheduled an appointment and traveled from Alabama to California for treatment, thanking supporters who helped make the trip possible. His family later continued his care in San Diego at Rady Children’s Hospital.
In an emotional update Thursday, Will’s mother, Brittney, announced that her son had died. The news came after she shared last week that doctors had said his time on earth was very short.
“Will is finally ringing his forever cancer free bell as he entered the gates of Heaven!” she wrote.
Brittney said she and her husband, Jason, were at Will’s bedside when he died, after they made the decision to “stop the suffering” by increasing sedation and removing oxygen.
“At 12:45am(central time)today, on my birthday, our precious Will took his final breath on this earth and entered the presence of Jesus,” Brittney wrote.
“Will was so much more than cancer. Will was the funniest person in the room. Will had a personality that could light up a hospital floor.”
“Will was stubborn enough to drive us crazy one minute and make us laugh the next,” she added. “Will loved hard, fought harder, and never stopped believing there was another mountain to climb.”
Brittney said her son fought the cancer until it “showed more progression of disease in his brain affecting his mental capacity.”
She also thanked everyone who had been there for them over the past 19 months as they walked this journey, including total strangers becoming family and churches across the country praying for him
Brittney documented the journey Will and his family have been on her Facebook, including the highs and lows as they went through waiting for MRI and PET scan results, and racing across town to see one specialist after another in the fight against his cancer.
There was even a messages on her Facebook from Trump inviting Will to come see him in the Oval Office, saying he’s with him in his battle.
Her posts are filled with moments of hope, including updates that the drug is working, sharing scans showing there was progress, along messages sharing how proud of her son she was for handling almost two years of “absolute hell” and how the bone cancer had spread to his brain.
“Most grown adults would have folded under half of what this child has carried,” she wrote.
By the end of June and first part of July, she said things took a turn for the worst, with inflammation throughout Will’s entire body, sharing her son was in tremendous pain and exhausted.
Following the tragic news about Will’s passing, Dr. Oz shared a touching message to the family.
“We just lost a remarkable young man,” the post read. “Will Roberts faced advanced osteosarcoma with extraordinary courage, surrounded every step of the way by the unwavering love of his parents and a medical team that pursued every advanced treatment modern medicine could offer.”
“Some battles remind us how much work remains.”
“Let’s honor Will by redoubling our commitment to finding cures so that no more families have to endure this devastating disease,” he added.
