Boy with terminal cancer defies odds, hangs on to meet baby sister before dying on Christmas Eve

A nine-year-old boy battled terminal cancer long enough to meet and name his newborn baby sister. As he neared the end, the little boy told his devastated parents: “You can only cry for twenty minutes.”
The brave boy, Bailey Cooper, managed to battle the horrific disease for 15 months. He was determined to hold on long enough to meet his new sibling who was due.
His mom, 28-year-old Rachel, gave birth to the baby girl in November and Bailey named her Millie. The day before he passed away, Bailey was pictured cradling his precious baby sister in his arms.
You can clearly see the love of a proud big brother written all over his face.
Tragically, Bailey died on Christmas Eve. His mom and dad, 30-year-old Lee, said that their brave boy smiled all the way through his treatment.
“We didn’t think he would last that long, but he was determined to meet Millie. It got to the end of November and Millie was born. He hugged her and did everything an older brother would do – change her, wash her, sing to her,” Rachel said.

Bailey’s dad, Lee, added: “Doctors said he was going to go before Millie was born. He didn’t. He fought and on the way to hospital, he said we should call her Millie.”
“But the moment after he met her, he began to taper off quickly. He was slipping away.”
On his deathbed, little Bailey Cooper said that he wanted to stay but told his devastated family, “it’s my time to go, to become her guardian angel.”
The family made the devastating realization that Bailey was unlikely to survive long enough to celebrate Christmas with them, but still encouraged him to write a list of gifts he would like.
Rachel said: “He knew he was not going to be here for Christmas, but we tried to get him to put together a Christmas list. He said he didn’t want to, but we encouraged him to.”

His parents noticed the gifts Bailey chose seemed to be picked out with his younger brother, Riley, age 6, in mind.
Knowing that he was dying, Bailey planned his own funeral and asked that all guests dressed up in superhero outfits.
He told his parents during what would be their last family meeting: “You’re only allowed to cry for 20 minutes. You have to take care of Riley and Millie.”
When his grandmother told him she wished that she could take his place, Bailey told her: “That is really selfish Nan. You have grandchildren to take care of.”
Even through his suffering, the 9-year-old boy was thinking only of his younger siblings.
After being placed in hospice care on December 22nd, Bailey’s family gathered by his bedside and read him stories to keep him company during his final moments.
“By 11:45 am on Christmas Eve, we were by his bedside. We knew it was not going to be long. We told him ‘It’s time to go Bailey. Stop.’”
“The moment we said ‘stop,’ he took his last breath and had just the one tear come out of his eye. It was peaceful.”