Rene Marsh is mourning a devastating loss. On Thursday, the CNN correspondent shared on social media that her and husband Kedric Payne’s 2-year-old son, Blake, died on April 14 after a battle with brain cancer.
Doctors found a malignant, fast growing tumor in the center of Blake’s brain in December 2019, and he underwent brain surgery and chemotherapy before he was one years old.
Marsh began her post, which featured sweet pics of her son, by writing about all the things baby “Blakey” taught her while he was here.
“In your 25 months on earth you taught me how much strength I had stored up in reserve that I didn’t know I had,” she wrote. “You taught me endurance. You taught me a depth of love I have never experienced. You inspired me to keep going when I wanted to give up. You helped me prioritize what is truly important in this life.”
“I feel blessed and honored to have been your mom,” she wrote. “I wish we had more time together but I’m grateful for the time we had.”
Marsh wrote that Blake “mastered the ability to bring laughter and happiness into whatever room you were in,” before sharing some of her son’s favorite things.
“Your party tricks included telling me ‘no,’ no matter what question I asked, hugging and kissing on demand and your dance moves were top notch,” she wrote. “The good times we shared are forever in my heart. You loved being outside. You loved cruising the neighborhood in your drop top electric car, with the music on as you tried so hard to snap your fingers. You loved humming classical music. Your favorite was Mozart’s Serenade no. 13.”
Following her son’s death, Marsh wrote that she didn’t “just lose you Blakey, I lost all the dreams and hopes that a mom has for a son.”
“I lost my motherhood and I’m mourning it all,” she wrote, before promising to fight “pediatric cancer for the rest of my life.”
“I will do it not just to spare other parents from this unbearable pain but I will do it to forever honor you, Blake,” she wrote. “Your life was not in vain my sweet angel. Mommy loves you and I look forward to holding and kissing you when we meet again. 3/14/19 – 4/14/21”
