A 23-year-old has adopted her 11-year-old sister after their mum died and her dad was given days to live.<br /><br />Ezri Hart has taken on care of Braidyn Neefe, 11, after her father Michael, 49, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. <br /><br />Ezri and Braidyn share the same mother, Erika Neefe, 45, who died last year after a stroke.<br /><br />Braidyn has now moved in with Ezri and her husband, David, 24, after Michael's conditioned worsened - forcing the 23-year-old to learn to parent overnight. <br /><br />She was formally adopted by the couple in May.<br /><br />Ezri, from Vancouver, Washington, US, who manages a freight warehouse, said: “When Michael got the cancer diagnosis, I had pretty big breakdown. <br /><br />“Part of me was grieving for a life that I had planned for myself. <br /><br />“I’m only 23, and was living a pretty typical life of a 23-year-old which I was kind of enjoying.<br /><br />“Now I can’t do anything without also planning to take care of Braidyn. <br /><br />“My plan B was altered with Michael as we thought he would have a year or two at least to live rather than a couple of weeks. <br /><br />“I’m trying to create a sense of normalcy for Braidyn so we can have a general life plan ahead.<br /><br />“She has had a lot of instability. I’m hoping we can get a nice place to live, and figure out how to work through all this."<br /><br />Erika had a stroke in December 2022 and Ezri says she then refused to take blood pressure medication as it “made her feel funny".<br /><br />Braidyn’s father, Michael, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumour, in late 2022.<br /><br />Erika then had another stroke in February, which led to a serious brain bleed and she died on February 9.<br /><br />Braidyn moved in with Ezri while Michael also moved to a separate house in Vancouver, WA.<br /><br />Then, in June, Michael was given a maximum of three months to live, with doctor's predicting he will die in less than three weeks from now. <br /><br />Having previously been given five years, his deterioration happened after he had an insurance issue when he moved to Vancouver and temporarily lost access to cancer treatment.<br /><br />Ezri said: “My sister Braidyn was born when I was 12.<br /><br />"Somehow I knew she was going to live with me at some point. <br /><br />“Mum had bad mental health problems. I thought this would be the reason why she would have to give up Braidyn, but it ended up being because she passed away.<br /><br />"The day she moved in with me was the first time she’d ever been outside of the east of Washington state. <br /><br />“She came over from eastern Washington state. <br /><br />“It was the first time she had been near mountains and trees. <br /><br />“It was a really strange experience.<br /><br />"I was really sad and yet Braidyn was having all these new life experiences - she was happy in a lot of ways. <br /><br />Ezri has since started a GoFundMe, which can be donated to here (gofund.me/4bf16b30) to raise funds for Braidyn to be able to spend some precious time with Michael while he is still here and for his memorial. <br /><br />They are trying to tick-off as many things as possible on Michael’s bucket list.
