Influencer Kate Hudson reveals daughter Eliza, 2, died on Father’s Day after battling cancer

Influencer Kate Hudson has revealed her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Eliza died on Father’s Day after battling a rare and aggressive cancer.

Mother-of-one Kate, from Hilliard, Ohio, and her fiancé Chance Moore said they are ‘broken’ after losing their little girl, whose brave journey they had documented on social media.

The couple welcomed Eliza in August 2018, and she was diagnosed with a ‘very rare and aggressive cancer known as rhabdoid tumor’ at 10 months old in June 2019.

According to a GoFundMe page they set up, she went through ‘countless surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and study drugs to help her in her fight’, but ‘nothing worked’ and the cancer ‘kept growing’.

Influencer Kate Hudson has revealed her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Eliza with fiancé Chance Moore died on Father’s Day after battling a rare and aggressive cancer

Writing on Instagram yesterday, Kate shared the tragic news while posting a black and white photograph of her daughter carrying a cuddly owl.

She began the post with the quote: ‘When the links of life are broken and a child has to part, there is nothing that will ever heal a parent’s broken heart.’

‘My sweet baby girl. I don’t know how we will go on without you. I know we promised you we would we brave, just like you,’ she went on.

‘But we are broken. Even though we know you are no longer suffering or in pain or frustrated with what life had become.’

Kate admitted that she didn’t expect Eliza’s death to feel ‘so sudden’ because they knew she was dying, but she ‘wasn’t ready to see what I saw’. 

Writing on Instagram yesterday, Kate shared the tragic news beside a black and white photograph of her daughter carrying a cuddly owl

Kate began the heartbreaking post with the quote: ‘When the links of life are broken and a child has to part, there is nothing that will ever heal a parent’s broken heart’

Kate said she and Chance are ‘broken’ even though they know their daughter is ‘no longer suffering or in pain or frustrated with what life had become’

‘I woke up this morning, still half asleep, and reached for your hand. But you were not there,’ she wrote. ‘You left last night. In a van that took you away. I wanted to run after you. But I couldn’t. I have to accept this new reality… but I am not ready to let you go. I don’t think I ever will be ready to move on.

‘I don’t know where your soul went when it left your little body. I want to believe you are somewhere with my dad and my sister…. and your sister… all loved ones you never met.

‘I want to believe you are all together. Dancing in meadows or swinging on trees or walking alongside a beach somewhere with ocean salt water washing over your toes.

‘I also want to believe your soul transferred into us, your Mamma and your Dadda. That you left your little body and gently latched onto our souls. That we are now intertwined for life. I want to believe you are still alive somewhere.

‘I want to believe I will wake up from this nightmare and you will be there holding our hands. Telling us it was just a bad dream.’ 

Kate admitted that she didn’t expect Eliza’s death to feel ‘so sudden’ because they knew she was dying, but she ‘wasn’t ready to see what I saw’ (pictured with Chance)

Kate’s post attracted 1,305,857 likes, with dozens of her 596,000 followers sharing heartfelt messages of condolence.

Hours earlier Kate had shared a heartfelt Father’s Day post admitting she’s ‘hated Father’s Day for as long as I can remember’, but praising Chance for being ‘beyond a father’.

She wrote: ‘Chance loves Eliza more than anything or anyone in this world. No one, except Eliza, Chance, and myself really know all the incredible memories he has given each of us and our family.

‘Happy Father’s Day, Chance. You will always, ALWAYS be “Dadda”… Today. Tomorrow. And even the days after Eliza is no longer with us. I love you, Chance. Eliza loves you more than anyone. You are and will always be an incredible man… and an incredible Dad. Always.’

In February last year Chance shared a sweet video of Eliza ringing the bell and receiving a round of applause at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, where she was treated.

She was diagnosed with cancer in June 2019 when she was just 10 months old and needed to have one of her kidneys removed the day after her diagnosis due to complications caused by her tumor.

Hours earlier Kate had shared a heartfelt Father’s Day post admitting she’s ‘hated Father’s Day for as long as I can remember’, but praising Chance for being ‘beyond a father’

Chance and Kate documented her journey on Instagram and TikTok, including her surgeries and chemotherapy, with Eliza capturing the hearts of millions

The following month she was diagnosed with malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT), a rare and aggressive tumor that occurs in infancy or childhood.

A few weeks later doctors found an additional tumor in her brain, and she was diagnosed with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT), a rare and fast-growing cancerous tumor of the brain and spinal cord, according to St. Jude’s Research Hospital.

Eliza underwent brain surgery to have the tumor and affected brain tissue removed before starting aggressive chemotherapy at the end of July.

Chance and Kate documented her journey on Instagram and TikTok, including her surgeries and chemotherapy, with Eliza capturing the hearts of millions.

According to the family’s GoFundMe page, her The last CT scan revealed eight nodules in her right lung. 

They were informed by Eliza’s surgery and oncology team that the next step would be to resect as many nodules as possible then hit her right lung again with ablative radiation. 

Kate and Chance said they were spending the time they had left to give Eliza ‘as much of a normal toddler life as possible’

However it transpired that there were in fact ‘thousands’ of nodules which had ‘obliterated her right lung and had spread over her heart and down into her diaphragm’. 

The latest post read: ‘The cruel irony is that we would have never known how aggressive this tumor was behaving inside Eliza if we hadn’t opted for surgery. We were blindsided. It still doesn’t feel real.

‘Eliza is still playful, energetic, sassy, funny, intelligent, joyful, sarcastic, bossy, kind, and fascinated with life. We were told our incredibly inspiring daughter Eliza may have weeks, maybe less than two months, at most, per Eliza’s Oncologist and Hospice Team.

‘The reality is that it may be only a few weeks before Eliza ends her fight and passes on.’

Kate and Chance said they were spending the time they had left to give Eliza ‘as much of a normal toddler life as possible’, adding: ‘We are enjoying every moment with her. We cry, but we also laugh. Eliza is showing us how to live this one life we have been given.’    

Eliza underwent brain surgery to have the tumor and affected brain tissue removed before starting aggressive chemotherapy at the end of July 2019

Eliza rang the bell at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, last year when she was one year old