Influencer Jennifer Burnham speaks out on death of 4-year-old son Baxter

Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.

Lifestyle influencer Jennifer Burnham has shared an emotional Instagram video following the tragic loss of her four-year-old son, Baxter.

She announced the devastating news on social media on Monday (12 October), sharing that ‘heaven welcomed our angel Baxter’ on 5 October.

Burnham, who has over 100,000 followers on the platform, posted a heartbreaking video montage of her son, whom she shares with her husband, Bryce Burnham.

She wrote in the caption: “Baxter, from the moment you were born, you have always been our dream come true. You have the most perfect angelic face and the sweetest personality.

“You are always kind to everyone and always love holding a car in each hand or a bag of them with you everywhere go.

“You love your family, cars, chocolate chip cookies, karate, and all of your friends. You pick mommy flowers everyday on our walks. We miss you too much but we know you are still with us everyday, watching over mommy, daddy and your baby brother Barron from heaven. We love you always and forever.”

After an outpouring of support online, the influencer posted a follow-up video to Instagram on Thursday (15 October), explaining what happened.

Burnham thanked everyone who sent a message of kindness and admitted that the ‘last week and a half has just been such a blur, and it’s been very overwhelming’.

She told her followers: “Basically my son was a totally healthy, happy four-year-old. He went to school, was on a T-ball team, did karate, had tons of friends, I mean just like the happiest little guy. He loved his Hot Wheels cars, just couldn’t have been happier or healthier, and I think that’s why this was so shocking.”

Burnham outlined that in April, Baxter was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which was ‘really shocking,’ as it ‘wasn’t even in her wheelhouse as something that could happen’.

She explained: “He had started crossing his left eye a little before this, so we took him to an ophthalmologist, and they thought he had strabismus, which is common in this age range, I guess, so they patched his eye up and said we could do eye surgery, which we scheduled for mid-April.”

Before the surgery, Baxter had an MRI, which is when they found the tumour and said that he needed to go to hospital immediately.

It was discovered that the four-year-old had a diffuse midline glioma, which Burnham said ‘in the brain tumour world is essentially the worst type of brain tumour that you can have unfortunately, because it’s in the brain stem and that’s inoperable, meaning it’s incurable’.

She explained that there was a piece of it in the cerebellum, which is removable, so the family did surgery three days after finding that out and removed that part.

They also did proton radiation and then ‘started researching crazy, hitting the ground running,’ to look into what their options were, what they could do, and how they could find a cure.

Burnham outlined that they tried everything from red light therapy and hyperbaric oxygen to oxygen baths and even went to Europe twice in the summer to do treatments out there.

She emotionally explained: “It’s so difficult watching your child go through something like this and you’re literally helpless. It’s every parent's worst nightmare, and we’ve been living in this nightmare for six months.”

“We literally did everything possible for our child, as any parent would do in this situation to help our child, to cure this, to figure out a way out of this.”

Burnham continued: “He was so strong and such a fighter, and literally fought until the very last day. He had a smile on his face and just was the happiest guy.

“I’m so proud of him because no child should ever have to go through this. No parent should ever go through this, and I hate that our family is going through this.”

The influencer explained that she wanted to talk about her son’s story to help others, urging: “No person should go through this alone; we fought so hard, and we did everything, and I know in my heart that he is in a much better place right now because no child should be suffering like that.”

She added: “It doesn’t change the fact that my heart is broken, and I’m not sure how to continue living every day because it’s just so hard to fathom my life without him because he was such a big, full part of it.”

Fans rushed to the comments to support the grieving family, with one writing: “Your strength amazes me, Jen. And in the midst of it all, you're helping others. We're here to take care of YOU”.

A second added: “You are SO strong and an incredible mother.”

And a third gushed: “Our story will help so many others and your strength as a mother is admirable.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.