LOOK: Mom shares viral, painful photo of cancer-stricken son

A mother has summed up the heart-wrenching realities she and her cancer-stricken son were going through in one viral Facebook post.

On Tuesday, Facebook page Love What Matters posted a photo of Drake Medinger, a 10-year-old boy from Texas who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September 2012, NBC Chicago reported. Now bald and wearing a diaper, his aching facial expression depicts his discomfort brought about by months of chemotherapy.

“For anyone battling cancer or enduring chemotherapy. For anyone going through this horrible disease. It is about to get real, real hard and real quick,” Drake’s mother, Jessica, captioned the image.

“This was this morning after carrying Drake to the bathroom. Yes, he is in a pull-up because 75 percent of the time he can’t control his bathroom habits,” she wrote.

“This is skin and bones because I have to beg him to eat one green bean for supper or drink a cup of water throughout the day. This is having your son sleep with you at night because he is afraid of something happening and being alone, and by something I mean dying,” she continued.

Then, she recollected the time he asked her if he could meet his father in the afterlife and when he feared he couldn’t celebrate his birthday.

Jessica added: “This is having middle of the night conversations with a ten-year-old, asking if he dies will he go to heaven and will he see his dad there and be able to talk and play with him. This is him being too weak to get out of bed or walk and needing to be carried or in a wheelchair. This is him falling asleep as someone is talking to him because he is too exhausted. This is him, throwing up every medication I give him and him dry heaving because his stomach is empty except for the spoonful of yogurt I just gave him with his pills. This is having to take 44 chemo pills last week in a matter of 24 hours. This is him telling me, ‘mommy, I’m not going to make it.’ This is him not wanting to be touched, because it hurts too much, and using morphine to get through his day. This is him telling me he is scared and thinks he won’t see his 11th birthday. This is him and me, telling him that I will continue to fight for him when he can’t. This is him and me, and our world.”

Jessica ended her short essay by promising to fight for her son: “From the moment I found out I was pregnant till future forever, he has been my reason for life. He is my smile, my love, my heartbeat. He is also my tears, my heartache, my frowns. He is my life.”

The post has generated sympathy on social media through 422,000 likes and 95,000 shares as of this writing.  Gianna Francesca Catolico / ra