DUBLIN, Ga. — In Dublin, one mother is getting ready to host a memorial walk to make sure her two sons she lost to cancer aren't forgotten.
Daphne Howard had four sons, including Demetrius Jones and Ivan Jones who she lost in 2014 and 2019.
Demetrius died from astrocytoma brain cancer at 27 years old. Howard said she had to lean on God to get through his death.
"God, with his help, I wouldn't have made it through the first one or the second one," she said.
After doctors caught his diagnosis, they gave her family a devastating prognosis.
"They told us he would live one to three years. Immediately we knew off the bat... but he lived seven years," she said.
Those extra years were a gift for her family. She tried to fill it with as many happy memories, and trips for her son.
"Every vacation we went on, we made sure Demetrius went with us. He was grown, but I took my baby with me. Everywhere we went, he was there with us," Howard said.
She said he had a huge smile that was always on his face and had dreams of going to university with his best friend. That dream never happened, but he did buy a car to fix up, which was another one of his dreams.
After he died in 2014, she tried to stay strong for her other three boys. Then, in 2018, tragedy came knocking again, this time for her son Ivan.
"We went to the ER and they tested him, and he had leukemia in the throat," Howard said.
He died a year later, leaving behind his son, Ivan Junior, who she's raised since.
"Of course, he miss his dad a lot and he'll say sometimes, 'I wish my dad was here,' with certain things. And he'll get sad sometimes but I said you gotta keep being a big boy, see dad again one day," Howard said.
Seeing her sons again one day is what has given her the strength to keep going, and plan annual memorial walks in their honor.
"Trying my best to live in you know, pleasing to God, so one day I'll be able to see their face again," Howard said.
The walk will be held at Dublin High School's track on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. It's open to anybody in the public.