Heart-wrenching moment 12-year-old boy with cancer escorts his mother down the aisle

Keith Burkett wanted to walk his mother, Taylore Woodard, down the aisle, but like with so much else in the 12-year-old’s life, cancer changed his plans.

In an impromptu ceremony at their home in Ohio, US, he was wheeled next to her on Wednesday and still got to hear his mother and stepfather, Adam, say their vows.

“He said, ‘Well, Momma, I would like to walk you down the aisle before I die,’ and then I was, like, you know what, we’re making it happen,” Taylore told a local news station.

Kourageous Keith, as friends and family dubbed him, has battled soft tissue sarcoma for the past six years. This year, it spread throughout his body.

When doctors said he had two months to live, members of the community organised a Christmas parade for him in October. Fifty Jeeps, as well as motorcycles and emergency vehicles, all decorated for the early holiday, drove past his house. The town council even declared Oct 21 Keith Burkett Day.

But after that early Christmas, he wanted something more.

“Keith would like to walk his mother, his care taker, fighter, his everything, down the aisle for her wedding,” reads the GoFundMe page set up to raise money for the wedding.

“While she had already eloped, we would like to add this wish to Keith’s list!”

The family raised more than their $3,500USD ($4.8k AUD) goal in less than three weeks, and apparently had a venue and all the details lined up. On Tuesday, however, Taylore wrote on her Kourageous Keith Facebook page that her son was losing his fight.

“We think he is holding out to go down the aisle with me,” she wrote. “He keeps talking about when he’s in and of lucidness. So tomorrow we will do small ceremony at the house to honour our hero’s wishes. My poor little man! No child should go through this and no parent should have to watch their child their world die! I am so completely lost! He’s my world!”

In the video of the ceremony posted online, Keith has his eyes closed for much of the time, but he claps at the end. At the time of this story, it seems Keith’s family members are saying goodbye to him, just days after he had that last wish fulfilled.

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