CNN correspondent Rene Marsh’s 2-year-old son, Blake, has died after a battle with pediatric brain cancer.
Marsh announced the tragic news on social media on Thursday alongside a series of photos of her late son.
“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. You taught me endurance. You taught me a depth of love I have never experienced,” Marsh captioned the pictures.
“You inspired me to keep going when I wanted to give up. You helped me prioritize what is truly important in this life.”
Blake, who “forever changed” Marsh, passed away on April 14, just one month after his second birthday. She and husband Kedric Payne welcomed Blake in March 2019.
“I feel blessed and honored to have been your mom. I wish we had more time together but I’m grateful for the time we had,” she continued.
Marsh gushed about her son’s ability “to bring laughter and happiness into whatever room you were in” and his love of “cruising the neighborhood in your drop top electric car…”
The newscaster not only mourned the loss of her boy, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in December 2019, but also the loss of “all the dreams and hopes that a mom has for a son.”
“I lost my motherhood and I’m mourning it all. I am dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer for the rest of my life,” she ended her tribute. “I will do it not just to spare other parents from this unbearable pain but I will do it to forever honor you, Blake. 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.”
In an opinion piece for CNN published on Feb. 4, 2021, Marsh wrote that she and her husband were assured by doctors for six months that her son’s cancer was in remission, but in November they were “blindsided” by its return and its spread.
Following the announcement of Blake’s passing, she tweeted, “Thank you to all the doctors and nurses at #JohnsHopkins who cared for and loved Blake over the past year and a half.”