Hadley “Haddie B” Boucher, a seven-year-old girl from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, has passed away after a 13-month fight with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, one of the rarest and most aggressive brain tumors that can affect children.
She was diagnosed in April 2025 at just six years old and fought until the very end with a courage that left everyone around her in awe.
Known to family and friends as Haddie B, she was the youngest of three sisters and the kind of child who made every room feel warmer the moment she walked in. She played dek hockey, basketball, and lacrosse.
She cheered loudly for the Boston Bruins in her black and gold jersey, rooted for the Red Sox, and spent her quieter moments painting, drawing, and dreaming up art projects.
She adored her three dogs, Mack, Harley, and Cooper, and had a soft spot for every animal she ever met.
Her diagnosis came after weeks of morning headaches, nausea, and complaints that her head hurt every time she laughed or ran.
Her parents brought her in for an urgent visit to her pediatrician, and after a series of tests, the family received devastating news.
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, known as DIPG, is an inoperable tumor that forms in the brainstem. There is no cure.
A Fighter in Every Sense of the Word
Haddie completed 30 rounds of radiation and later began treatment through an expanded access program for ONC201, a drug now FDA-approved under the name Modeyso and considered one of the most promising therapies for children with H3K27M-mutant brain tumors.
She tolerated the treatment well and continued going to school full-time through much of her illness, finishing a fall season of dek hockey and preparing to return to basketball.
In early April 2026, her mother, Alyssa, shared a heartfelt update through the family’s GoFundMe page, describing a sudden and frightening medical emergency that landed Haddie in the ICU at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Doctors were perplexed. Her MRI looked stable, but she had declined rapidly. A very small seizure was eventually detected, though questions remained.
What followed, her mother wrote, were some of the hardest days of their lives, days filled with impossible conversations and decisions no parent should ever face.
But Haddie fought her way back. She woke up, reached for Cheez-Its, picked up her coloring book, and managed to steal the hearts of every nurse and doctor on the floor with what her mom described as her quiet grunts and smirks. She came home.
A GoFundMe organized by family friend Stacey Houghton has raised nearly $273,000 toward a $300,000 goal to help the Boucher family cover medical expenses, travel, and lost income.
In a Facebook post shared by DIPG advocate Jo Bishop, the news of Haddie’s passing was announced simply and painfully. She was seven years old. She had fought for 13 months.
She left behind two big sisters, parents who are high school sweethearts, and a community that had rallied around her from the very beginning.
She was, as her mother always said, stronger than anyone.
