Our Warrior ended his 18 year battle and won his wings tonight at 5:25.

He fought hard all of his life and and yet tonight he slipped away gently like the wings of a butterfly. So peacefully in the arms of his mother, and holding my hand surrounded by friends and family. Please send prayers and love to Amanda. Her heart is shattered.

I know he is free and in God's light. As desperately as I will miss him, I'm finally able to breathe knowing he is whole and dancing among the stars

We are asking for your help. This is Zade. He has an extremely rare genetic syndrome. Many of the kids with PKS do not survive beyond the age of two. Zade just turned 18.

Zade can't walk or talk or even eat. But his dazzling smile, strength of spirit, and aura of love have inspired anyone who has ever come in contact with this boy. You can't help but fall in love with Zade. He's a favorite of the doctors and nurses at Nationwide Children's, where he has been in and out all his life. He's been through countless painful surgeries and procedures, many that would bring a grown man to his knees. He's done so without even flinching, always retaining his sweet nature. He has fought his way back from the very brink when we were sure we would lose him (more times than I can count), fighting with sheer strength of heart, prayers, modern medicine, and his mother's iron will. He became known as "our little warrior" to many who watched his valiant struggle.

Amanda is a single mother and a warrior in her own right. After all those years of caring for a severely disabled child alone, she's paid with her own health. She's had five surgeries in the last 18 months and is just now getting back to work after a long-term disability leave. During this, she had to give up her home and move to the Ronald McDonald House because Zade was admitted again nine months ago and is still at Children’s Hospital. I'm shattered to say this will be his final admission. Nearly every organ in his body is very sick and failing to one degree or another. There will be no coming back this time. He will only continue to deteriorate. Our warrior is getting tired. His smiles that lit up the world are now few and far between and not nearly so broad. He is asleep most of the time and has to be on oxygen constantly. He's poked with needles every day and given endless tests with no positive answers. When he is awake, he's quiet and depressed. His mother has made the unbelievably heart-wrenching and painful decision to allow him to shed this body which has kept him a prisoner, to stop the tortures and pain, and place him in hospice where he will be made comfortable until nature takes its course and him with it, where he will be free and whole in God's keeping.

We would like to send our warrior off with the kind tribute he deserves. End-of-life rituals are unfortunately expensive, especially when you haven't been able to work. Amanda has given everything for our young hero. Now, with incredible love and selflessness, she has had to make the unimaginable choice to set him free. Besides dealing with that and her health, she has nothing. She, of course, will have to leave the Ronald McDonald House after he passes and will have to depend on the charity of others until she's well enough to get back on her feet. Amanda is a one-of-a-kind woman. She would give you the very shirt off her back. She's the friend that always comes through when no one else does, even when there is no time and she has no energy. She's had to become incredibly strong but has a heart as soft as molten gold. We are asking for whatever your heart tells you to give. If you have nothing to give, just please send a prayer for his peaceful passing and comfort for a mother's shattered heart.

If you would like to know more about Zade and PKS, you can go to GO ZADE on Facebook. Thank you for taking the time to read this.