Comparing photos from the first and last days of the school year [1] is a pretty amazing way for parents to see just how much their kids have grown, but nothing captures the difference a year can make quite like Sophi Eber's viral snapshots.
When Sophi started the first grade, the 7-year-old had no hair or eyebrows and relied on the assistance of a feeding tube in her nose because of a difficult battle with cancer [2]. Although she beat her stage IV neuroblastoma diagnosis before the school year began, according to HuffPost, she still had to recover from the six rounds of chemotherapy, 14 rounds of radiation, five rounds of immunotherapy, and surgery. The toll this took on her body can be seen in her photo from the start of the school year. Since then, this strong girl is in a clinical trial while being monitored for relapses and on the last day of first grade, Sophi's glowing smile hasn't changed, but new bouncy curls and a continued cancer-free bill of health also accompany it.
As an incredible reminder of how far Sophi has come during this short time, her teacher snapped a photo of Sophi on the last day of school holding her first picture from the school year. She sent it to her parents, which they shared on Facebook, with an inspirational note: "What a difference a school year makes! This picture shows how much your girl has gone through and she continues to just blow us away . . . her strength, determination, and amazing attitude inspires us! So grateful to have had the opportunity to know her and be her teachers!"
Sophi's mom, Bethany Eber, told HuffPost that Sophi had lost an enormous amount of weight [4] before starting off the year and seeing the drastic difference in her child has left a lasting impact. "To see how far she had come just in the course of first grade was remarkable to the teacher. It really is an amazing photo," she said.
The proud mom also shared that her daughter is still kicking cancer's ass [5] and her recent scans came back still clear. "We wanted to show that it happens, that it's not just sad, but that kids can overcome this and they can become stronger . . . so it was really meant to be hopeful and that was how it was received," Bethany added.