Family who lost 12-year-old son to cancer says 'we are choosing to live' by sharing in his passion

Amanda Moppett-Beatch and Jeff Beatch lost their son, Easton, to cancer last month. The family, with their daughter Ellie, travelled from Calgary to B.C., visiting some of Easton's favourite birding spots. They say it helps them stay connected to him and a psychologist from UBC says it's an example of continuing loving bonds.

Family who lost 12-year-old son to cancer says 'we are choosing to live' by sharing in his passion Psychologist explains it shows how our understanding of grief is evolving Along the way from Calgary to Vancouver Island, the Beatch family stopped in Kamloops, B.C., and spotted a pileated woodpecker making noise in the woods. They added it to a growing list of birds they've spotted in honour of Easton Charles Beatch, who passed away at age 12 just over a month ago. "It's giving us some purpose.

It's helping us in our grief and that we're doing what he always wanted to do in the end," Easton's mother, Amanda Moppett-Beatch, told CBC News. "[We are] trying not to drown in the sadness." Easton was diagnosed with brain cancer in June 2023 and passed away on June 12.

He is survived by his mother Amanda, his father Jeff and his younger sister Ellie. Easton's journey as a birder At a time when his illness made it increasingly difficult to play hockey, Moppett-Beatch said her son fell in love with birding. When Easton watched The Big Year, a 2011 film starring Jack Black and Steve Martin, he got hooked, spending hours outside photographing backyard birds.

In 2025, Easton set out to spot 250 bird species. Birders flock to Vancouver beach to see rare bird native to Russia Birdwatchers flock to Calgary park to catch glimpse of rare woodpecker By the middle of December that year, Easton had logged 240 bird species near Calgary but was stalling out. Amanda flew with him to Victoria where, with the help of the local birding community, Easton surpassed his goal and finished the year with 261 birds.

The Calgary family recently returned to Vancouver Island to visit places Easton had wanted to show his father and sister, stopping at some of his favourite spots in B.C. to photograph and observe birds. "We're choosing to take one step at a time, choosing to continue to live," Moppett-Beatch said. "We're choosing to continue to see his birds."

Grieving through continuing loving bonds Ingrid Söchting, director of the University of British Columbia's psychology clinic, said the way people understand grief is changing. It was traditionally thought that people would move through stages of grief such as disbelief, anger and acceptance. "But that implied that you would be moving on, that there actually is a way of recovering from grief," she explained.

"Now we understand that that is not really how it works." Söchting described what the Beatch family is doing as a form of "continuing loving bonds," a concept she said aims to balance tolerating pain with actively remembering the person who passed and the passions they enjoyed. "It's very active about remembering, which of course is very painful.

But at the same time as you have this pain, you are also able to celebrate and feel gratitude for this person still, in a sense, being part of your family." 'We can do it forever with him' In his final weeks, Easton would carry a stuffed barn owl named Yorkshire with him. His mother said he felt it was his spirit animal and protector.

Before travelling to Victoria, the Beatch family stopped at Grouse Mountain to watch an owl presentation. After the show, they spoke with the presenter, who allowed them to meet and hold a barn owl. His sister, Ellie, said seeing the owl made her feel like Easton was there with them.

"When I was holding the barn owl, I heard him say, ‘Well, that's not fair. I want to hold it,'" she said. Before he passed, Easton set another goal to log 300 species in 2026.

He had logged 136, and as his family continues to add to the list in the weeks since, it has grown to 173. "That was Easton's passion, Easton's hobby, so we'll always feel like we can do it forever with him, no matter where we are," said his mother. With files from Daybreak Kamloops