Mother of 9-Year-Old Brie Bird Details Grief After Her Death

People reports Brie Bird’s mother, Kendra, wrote about her grief after her 9-year-old daughter died on Dec. 11 from stage 4 neuroblastoma, following a five-year battle with a recurring form of the cancer.

In an Instagram post on Jan. 6, Kendra described taking down the family’s Christmas decorations and the emotions it stirred, writing, “This tree saw her alive. It witnessed the last Christmas I’ll ever have with my nine-year-old daughter on earth.” She added that packing the tree away “feels like betrayal” and wrote, “It feels like panic, disbelief, guilt for breathing, anger at the calendar, and a tenderness so deep it hurts to touch.” Brie was first diagnosed in 2020 when doctors found an 8-centimeter tumor and cancer that had spread in her back; her neuroblastoma returned in January 2024 and she entered hospice in July of the following year. The family celebrated an early Christmas in October after Brie chose to spend her remaining time at home in Utah.

Kendra noted that leaving the tree up made part of her feel the situation wasn’t final, while taking it down made “the silence get louder,” calling the tree’s role in Brie’s last Christmas “sacred.” Brie’s journey had been followed by over 1 million Instagram fans and drew moments of outside support, including a surprise from the cast of Wicked; the post does not detail the family’s next public steps.

Key Topics

Culture, Brie Bird, Kendra Bird, Neuroblastoma, Utah, Instagram