Fort Bragg girl loses brain cancer fight

Five-year-old Ila Haskin, who last week got early Halloween and Christmas celebrations at Fort Bragg, has died, her family said Friday.

Ila battled diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an inoperable form of brain cancer that interferes with all bodily functions, depriving her of the ability to move, communicate and even to eat and drink.

Because doctors didn’t expect her to survive to the fall, friends of her family banded together to make her final days special.

A Halloween party, including a trunk-or-treat event for Ila and her siblings, was held in the Linden Oaks neighborhood of Fort Bragg on May 19.

Two days later, the neighborhood was decorated with Christmas lights, and Santa showed up seven months earlier for a holiday celebration that included a mini-parade, pictures and gifts.

According to a “Defeat DIPG” website, 200 to 400 children are diagnosed with the the aggressive brain cancer each year, most between the ages of 4 and 11.