A four-year-old boy battling leukaemia is comforted by his sister while he is sick in this heartbreaking photo captured by their mother.
Beckett Burge has spent months in hospital undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at just two in April 2018.
Mum Kaitlin Burge's striking snaps reveal the reality of Beckett's battle against the disease, with one showing selfless sister Aubrey rubbing his back and reassuring him while he leans over the toilet being sick.
Despite being just 14 months older, Aubrey washed her cancer-stricken brother's hands, carried him to the sofa and offered to help clean the bathroom for her mum Kaitlin, 28, and dad Matthew Burge.
Mum-of-three Kaitlin said caring Aubrey shuns going out playing with her pals and would rather stay at home with Beckett so she can keep a close eye on him.
She is thrilled with their "incredible bond" but admits to feeling sad that young Aubrey has been exposed to so much.
Kaitlin, from the US city of Princeton, Texas, decided to share the heartbreaking images to show the importance of family in times of crisis.
Kaitlin said: "When I see them together, it makes me happy but at the same time it makes me sad.
"They have an incredible bond. To this day, they are closer, she always takes care of him.
"A child that's four or five years old should be outside playing with their friends.
"She loves gymnastics and we had to put a stop to that because of the financial burden, it got too expensive with his situation.
"She should be out doing gymnastics, running around the neighbourhood with the kids, playing in the playground, swimming in the pool - but here she is taking care of her brother.
"They're very close - they always played together. He'd play dolls with her and she'd play superheroes with him.
"We encourage her to go outside and do things, but she'd rather have her eyes on him."
Beckett came home after more than a month in hospital on Aubrey's fifth birthday.
He underwent chemotherapy, blood transfusions and platelet transfusions during his stay.
Kaitlin said: "There's a lot going on at the moment. When he's not tired and worn out Beckett's a very happy person, he's very bubbly and goofy.
"He's never met a stranger - he will talk to anyone and anybody.
"But he's had a rough time and while he was in hospital, Aubrey went to her grandma's house and his younger sister Chandler, who's nearly two, went to her uncle's house.
"Everybody was split up and they spent some time apart.
"When he came home it was the day of her birthday, it was her first time seeing him since he had been diagnosed.
"He was very petite, couldn't walk and he'd lost a lot of weight. To her it was very odd and he looked different.
"We weren't really sure how to handle the situation or if we wanted her to know what was going on.
"But whenever he came home Aubrey was trying to work out why he didn't want to play - it wasn't like him."
The mum added: "She wondered why he was sleeping all the time and needed help to the bathroom. He would just be sick and he'd never been sick before.
"She didn't know what was happening, but she knew from experience that when she was sick, we would rub her back and help her through it.
"She just picked up from experience and took over. She'd rub his back and tell him it was going to be okay, clean his face up and wash his hands for him.
"Right after that happened, she also carried him back to the living room and put him on the couch.
"She asked me she could clean up the bathroom too, but I told her to go and sit down because that wasn't her job.
"She takes it upon herself to help and make sure everything he comes into contact with is clean. She's another set of eyes."
Aubrey, who started preschool this summer, continues to worry about her "best friend", despite her parents' reassurance.
Aubrey will look through pictures of her brother and ask questions about all the medical equipment surrounding him, desperate to have her play buddy back.
Kaitlin said: "We took pictures of him while in hospital and she scrolls through them on my phone.
"She asks a lot of questions, she's a very smart little girl.
"She'll go to picture and ask 'why does he have a mask on?' and we'll tell her.
"She's watched a dozen doctors throw a mask over his face, poke and prod him with needles, pump a dozen medications through his body, all while he laid there helplessly.
"She wasn’t sure what was happening, all she knew was that something was wrong with her brother, her best friend.
"We explain that he got really sick, this is what happened, it was nothing he ate or did, nothing she did, it can't be prevented and it's not going to happen to her.
"We explained everything to her and got our social worker involved.
"We've been very open with her so any questions that she ever has we talk through it with her, we explain it with Beckett in the room as well.
"He'll tell people 'I have cancer', he knows what he has. We make sure she's very supportive and knows it doesn't make him any different.
"She's always worried about where he is, what he's doing, who he's with. Her having to do things by herself was not something she was used to doing and she didn't want to do it."
Since being diagnosed 18 months ago, Beckett has shown incredible strength despite having chemotherapy pills every night and needing regular hospital treatment.
It's estimated he will be on treatment for two more years but in the meantime he'll have his loving family, especially doting sister Aubrey, to help him through.
Kaitlin said: "His situation started overnight with an ear infection. There were no things leading up to it that would even suggest cancer.
"He's in maintenance right now and he will continue his treatment until August 8, 2021.
"He has chemo every single night, then has an anti-fungul for an infection he had when officially diagnosed.
"He's on the normal protocol - the steroids every month for five days, going to the clinic for chemo through his port, then a pill at home every night."
