BONNYVILLE – Bonnyville’s own warrior princess’s battle may be over, but her legacy will live on for years to come.
Emma Humphreys, who was also known as Princess Emma, became known throughout the community as a fighter, someone never let the hand she was dealt slow her down. Full of energy, kindness, and love, Emma left a lasting impression on every person who had the privilege of meeting her.
“Emma was a fighter,” expressed Cathie Humphreys, Emma’s mom. “She’s everything wonderful, amazing, loved, and filled with grace and courage. She’s unicorns, Peppa Pig, and colours all rolled into one big glitter ball of wonderful.”
After 876 days of war against Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPG), a disease that causes tumours at the base of the brain, Emma passed away on Oct. 20.
“She kept her grace and laughter right up until the end,” Cathie recalled. “It was a terrible and amazing process to watch this little girl go through what she did.”
Bringing Emma home
Although Princess Emma lived a short life, Cathie and her husband, David, were determined to make it a worthwhile one.
The couple was in the process of becoming foster parents when they learned through a family member of David’s that Emma had been taken into the foster care system in British Columbia.
“She knew that we were going through the process to adopt a foster child and asked if there was anything we could do,” Cathie said.
That began Cathie and David’s very long process with British Columbia Child and Family Services.
After what felt like forever, they received the call to participate in a sacred circle, which is an indigenous procedure that’s meant to bring all of the family together. The plan was to meet with Emma’s biological parents in order to figure out what the best plan would be for Emma, along with her sister Kylie, because "in the foster care system, reunification is always first and foremost," Cathie stated.
Reunification refers to the return of children to their biological family, following placement in out-of-home care.
“It didn’t appear that was going to happen with Emma and Kylie, so we needed to find a more permanent home with them, and that was going to be us,” Cathie noted.
From the moment Cathie saw Emma on April 26, 2016, she knew that she was going to be her daughter, and she refused to leave without her. When it looked like that might not be the case, Cathie put her foot down and brought out what her husband describes as her "mama pose."
“I get my finger going in people’s faces and there’s just no backing down. I stood up and told them that it had already been a year, we were done waiting, we’re not leaving this city without these children, and they will have to figure out a way to make it happen,” she explained.
Cathie and David were informed after a lunch break that they were going to be able to bring their girls home that day. Before they left, they searched Chilliwack, B.C. for Emma and Kylie’s parents to allow them all to say goodbye.
“I can’t imagine, when you’re struggling with addictions already, and you’re struggling with your own demons, and then just to pile on the fact that these strangers are taking home your children,” Cathie expressed. “It’s not going to be an ‘okay, this week I may or may not show up for a visit,’ it’s you’re probably not going to see your children for several months.’”
Unfortunately, they weren’t able to find them and brought home "two little wild girls."
It was about a year after Emma started living with them that Cathie started looking for a diagnosis for her.
“I had noticed since we had gotten Emma that there were just some quirks that were happening that weren’t normal to me,” Cathie noted. “It started off with, she would wake up in the morning and for the first moments of waking up in the morning, she would have tremors. It was like she was shivering because she was cold and it took her a bit and then they would go away. She would fall more than most kids, she was extra clumsy. Then the tremors started to get worse and the nosebleeds started.”
Cathie and David took her to their family doctor, pediatricians, and the local hospital only to be told that there wasn’t anything wrong with Emma.
Knowing her daughter the way she did, Cathie refused to believe this and fought for Emma.
“While it wasn’t obvious to everybody else unless you were sitting there at the moment and seeing the actual symptoms as it was happening, you would never know there was anything wrong with Emma. But, I knew that something was wrong with Emma.”
The couple later decided to take Emma to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, where the doctors diagnosed Emma with DIPG after an MRI and gave her six to nine months to live.
“I think our world just kind of stopped,” Cathie expressed.
Princess Emma was born
Before learning Emma had DIPG, the family had their "best worst day" in Edmonton.
“We took Emma out of the hospital before we knew this was really going to start. We went to West Edmonton Mall, she got her hair dyed pink and her hair cut, and princess dresses. We went to the Disney store, Galaxyland, we went out for supper, and we just had the very best, worst day ever,” Cathie recalled.
David and Cathie’s biggest focus was "to ensure that she lived pain-free."
“We knew at that point there was no quantity of life,” Cathie said. “Whatever quantity there was, it was never going to be enough, but her quality of life, we could do something about.”
That’s when Princess Emma was born and her journey of living her best life began.
After Emma completed 30 rounds of radiation, she required oxygen and wasn’t happy. Her parents were told to rush everything if they wanted Emma to be a part of it, which they did. Some of the activities the family did included planning a wedding for Cathie and David in under a month, and the family took a trip to Disneyland.
Princess Emma’s story took a positive turn when they came back from Disneyland.
“Slowly but surely, she started to get better and we found joy and happiness, and she kept getting better,” Cathie recalled, adding Emma surpassed the doctor’s predictions.
“Soon, six months had passed and we still had our girl. Then nine months passed, and we still had our girl.”
Natalie McCue described Emma as a "fighter."
“She was a beautiful shining light in this community, such love she has known and was shown by anyone who met her,” she said in a comment on social media. “Everyone she came into contact with couldn’t help but fall in love with her. She was a true soldier, a superhero in disguise as a sweet princess put here on earth.”
Princess Emma also took the time to give back by fundraising for many different organizations. She did a toy drive for the Stollery hospital, worked with Kids with Cancer Society, and even ran her own lemonade stand.
It was important for Cathie and David to instill important life lessons in Emma.
“I don’t think that you’ll find very many people in this town that don’t know what DIPG is anymore,” Cathie noted. “We have a motto in our house and it’s 'do good, be good’ and if you can help somebody else, you always do what you can. We wanted to teach Emma those principles and she loved helping people.”
It was during this time that many people fell in love with Emma and the family raised awareness about her disease.
“How do you describe Emma?” wondered Cynthia Gamache in a comment on social media. “To put it simply; young, very wild, and free. If you didn’t know Emma was sick, you would never have guessed. She was a little spit-fire that always kept you on your toes.”
Nicole Gebert agreed, “Loving Emma was an instant, easy love. She was caring, compassionate, kind, generous, and a little warrior with a big heart. She had the softest little voice but could get your attention if she really needed it.”
About a year after her diagnosis, Emma’s biggest dream was to ride the school bus and go to kindergarten. While attending Duclos School, Emma met her "very best friend" Raegan, which is something Cathie hoped and dreamed for Emma.
“I think for most of us, we will never find that type of friendship right from the start, a bond that is completely unbreakable and she found that with Raegan,” Cathie explained. “That little girl loved Emma no matter what.”
Duclos School was also where Emma’s next dream was born, which was to become a ‘copper.’ Originally, Emma wanted to be a doctor to stop kids from being in pain like she was, but that quickly changed after she met Bonnyville RCMP S/Sgt. Sarah Parke.
“She went to talk to the kids and to bring Emma a certificate for all her good deeds and fundraising over the previous year,” Cathie detailed. “Emma fell in love with her and Cst. James Lemmon, and she was going to be a copper at that point.”
While Parke’s first visit to the school was for Emma’s visit, it quickly became a two-way street.
“All of a sudden, I had several little buddies, including Emma, that would run up and give me hugs or point me out to their parents in the grocery store and say ‘mom, that’s officer Sarah’ with sheer excitement.”
Before Emma’s passing, the local detachment made Princess Emma an honourary member.
“Even though she was known as a princess and dressed up in the princess dresses, she was a police officer for Halloween last year or a ‘copper’ as she put it,” Parke explained. “Making her an honourary member of our detachment was the least we could do for someone who had shed so much light into this community.”
To mark Emma’s milestone of making it two years from her diagnosis, Princess Emma organized Twoonies for Two Years and donated over $4,000 for the Bonnyville Healthcare Centre.
The beginning of the end
Emma’s final fundraiser was 'fitting’ as it was one for an officer in Cold Lake in who ‘had gotten a bad owie by the bad guy on her head.’
While gifts and donations came pouring in, Cathie realized "we were entering the stage we had managed to avoid for so long and that our miracle was coming to an end."
Emma continued to fight, and her family worked to keep her comfortable in the coming months. In Emma’s final days, she was surrounded by families and friends until she passed on Oct. 20.
Princess Emma was brought to her forever home by a horse-drawn carriage, which Cathie described as "the only way that was fit for a princess."
