Lincoln Tanner is only 1 but has already endured a painful life. Little Lincoln suffers from a rare and terminal […]
Lincoln Tanner is only 1 but has already endured a painful life.
Little Lincoln suffers from a rare and terminal form of epilepsy called Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy (MMPSI). He can have as many as 200 seizures in a single day.
Fortunately, he has a loving family who do all they can to help him.
His mother, Abby, does her best to make him laugh, sometimes entertaining him with spontaneous bouts of singing.
The mother of three, from South Carolina, had taken her son to the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina. When she spotted a beautiful black piano in the middle of the room, she couldn’t help herself.
She sat down to play the piano for one-year-old Lincoln while he was waiting for a neurology appointment at the Duke Cancer Institute.
She knows that her son can hear her voice; can feel the music despite his condition.
The intimate performance soon caught the attention of nurses and staff from the medical center, who applauded Tanner as she finished the song.
“At the end, the balconies were filled with people who were enjoying it,” Tanner, 34, from Pendleton, South Carolina, tells PEOPLE. “It was really special.”
Doctors at the center posted footage of the performance on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 248,000 times. For Tanner, she sees it as an opportunity to raise awareness for MMPSI.
For other parents who have children with disabilities, Tanner wants them to hold on to hope in the face of difficult circumstances.
“Stay right where you are, be present, and don’t lose hope,” she says. “God is using this little boy who can’t speak to preach a message to millions of people that there’s hope and that this isn’t the end, we believe the best is yet to come. Lincoln’s life is valuable, and he has taught us so much. It’s hard, but it’s such a blessing to be his mom.”
Tanner is documenting his story on a Facebook group called Lincoln’s Road.