Mum's heartbreaking photo shows horrible reality of child cancer

A mother who has been documenting her 5-year-old girl's fight against brain cancer on Facebook has posted a heartbreaking picture that shows the pain loved ones go through when their children are suffering.

Ally Parker shared the photo of her father, who is also terminally ill, and her daughter Braylynn Lawhon, as the two fight for their lives.

The grandfather, Sean Peterson, can be seen wailing as he sits beside his granddaughter Braylynn, who has been given just hours to live but keeps on fighting in hospital.

Peterson suffers from motor neurone disease and can no longer speak but he did not need words to express his pain and suffering at seeing his little granddaughter struggle with cancer.

Braylynn was diagnosed with a brain tumour on December 6. Her situation became complicated a few days ago and she has been in hospital since. The family has been told she has hours left.

Mother Ally Parker, from Florida, is preparing to say goodbye to both her father and daughter within what could be just weeks of each other.

"In a few days I will have to bury this beautiful little girl," the mother posted on Facebook.

"Months, maybe even weeks, later, I will have to bury my father," she added.

"Both of my heroes, gone, within the same year.

"How could this happen to us? What did any of us do to deserve THIS?

"Why do they have to leave us? What are we supposed to do?

"I refuse to believe that there is a reason for this.

"This world is a terrible place."

Little Braylynn suffers from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, considered the most deadly form of brain cancer. It has no cure and no survival rate.

Her mother says she is keeping her on the ventilator until funeral arrangements are finalised.