‘I See Her Slipping Away’: 6-Year-Old Mae Back in Hospital After Birthday Parade She Could Not See

The 6-year-old girl hundreds of people tried to shower with birthday cards is now lying in a hospital room, pointing at people her mother says are not there.

Madison sent a video. Mae looks toward one side of the room and points as though someone is standing there. No one is. After everything this little girl has already endured, her mom is terrified about what it could mean.

Mae’s community worked hard to give her a birthday parade. It never happened the way anyone imagined. Instead of celebrating, she was back in the hospital — throwing up blood, confused, shaking, and too sick to keep her eyes open long enough to see what people had done for her.

Then, at 5 a.m., a doctor woke Madison with more frightening news. One of Mae’s brain MRI results had come back abnormal. Doctors do not yet know whether what they are seeing is cancer progression or an infection.

That uncertainty is crushing her.

Overnight, Mae began saying and seeing things that were not there.

“She said she seen God and completely shut down and was terrified,” Madison said. “She wouldn’t talk after that.”

Mae also told her mom the door was flying, said there was snow on the ground, and asked why they were outside. They were still inside her hospital room.

Doctors have said the hallucinations could be related to the medications Mae is receiving. But with the MRI now raising questions about infection or progression, her team performed an emergency neurological exam this morning.

Mae has not eaten in four days.

Madison spent most of the night watching her daughter’s monitors before finally falling asleep around 3 a.m. Two hours later, a doctor woke her.

“I am completely petrified,” she said.

She is also blaming herself, wondering whether something could have been found sooner after Mae fell a couple of weeks ago because she was dizzy.

More than anything, the fear in her voice is unmistakable. She has already watched Mae endure cancer, more than 100 overnight hospital stays, repeated infections, and setback after setback. Now she is sitting beside her daughter, watching her point toward people no one else can see, and waiting for doctors to tell her why.

“I can’t lose her,” Madison wrote. “She’s my baby and I’m not ready for her to end this fight.”

Please pray doctors get answers quickly.
Pray the MRI findings are something treatable.
Pray Mae starts eating again, and that whatever is happening neurologically can be reversed.
And please pray for Madison, who said this morning:

“Please, please for the love of God please get everyone to pray for her because I see her slipping away.”

Sources: Updates from Madison Ward, mother of Annalise Mae Ward, 6, of the Columbus, Indiana, area, who has been treated for brain cancer; a community birthday parade for Mae was publicly announced in late August 2026 after infection kept her from a typical party.