Avery's Bucket List went viral online, and sadly, the five-month-old baby girl has died from spinal muscular atrophy complications. It is heartbreaking to hear that the baby is gone so soon. Her parents, Laura and Mike Canahuati, had been told that the disease would take her before she turned two years old.
Her dad sadly updated her blog Avery's Bucket List one last time writing "Avery's passing this quickly came as a complete shock to all of us, as she had just been given a thumbs up at her last doctor's appointment only three days ago. While we were aware of the severity of her diagnosis, we never lost hope for Avery."
It is astonishing that she died so soon after her story caught the hearts and minds of people around the world. The baby, who was obviously a sweetheart, kept her beautiful smile until the end, and that is wonderful news.
On April 6, doctors diagnosed Avery with Type 1 SMA, and they gave her 18 months to live. That is when her parents created the list of things for their daughter to accomplish and made a blog for their beautiful and lively daughter, which they wrote from her point of view.
Sadly, as of her death, Avery was $365,000 away from meeting her list's goal of raising $1 million for SMA, which is the number one killer of children under the age of two in the U.S. Even so, her parents will work to continue raising awareness and money for the cause. Her dad Mike Canahauti wrote, "Before Avery passed away, I made her a promise that I would continue to be an activist in raising SMA awareness, making genetic testing universally available, and in finding a cure for her friends. I will not break that promise and in the name of SMA awareness and funding a cure, I hope parents of children everywhere will look at Avery's Bucket List and help her complete items she was unable to."
Avery's quick death is an illustration of how quickly this disease can take those children who suffer from it. Hopefully the popularity of her story will help bring more money and research into a cure for SMA.
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