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KALIDA, Ohio — A grieving father asked a forum on Reddit to edit out the tubes and wires that were constantly attached to his daughter during her short six weeks of life, and the talented forum overwhelmingly responded to his heartbreaking request.
Nathen and Emily Steffel told Today.com they knew something was wrong from Emily's very first ultrasound but did not know how bad it would be. Sophia Steffel was born on May 30 with a hepatic hemangioma, a tumor in the liver.
She was constantly monitored and hooked up to tubes and the Steffels never had a chance to take a picture tube- free of their baby girl. Sophia was only 6 weeks old when she passed away last Thursday waiting for a new liver.
Nathen Steffel took to Reddit three days ago and asked for help: “My daughter recently passed away after a long battle in the children's hospital,” Steffel wrote.
“Since she was in the hospital her whole life, we never were able to get a photo without all her tubes. Can someone remove the tubes from this photo?”
Talented photo editors overwhelmingly responded to his request.
“I'm very sorry. … My son is 9 months old and I couldn't sleep without at least trying,” wrote one Redditor.
“I am sorry for your loss, and am just happy I could help in any way I can. She is so beautiful," wrote another user who submitted an edited photo.
Steffel said he stayed up until 3 a.m. trying to respond to the numerous photos and hundreds of comments. He told Today.com Emily teared up at the photos of Sophia when he showed them to her. They plan to put up several of the edited pictures in their house.
“This is really amazing. Everyone, you have made my day,” he wrote on Reddit. “All I wanted was a nice picture. What I received was a lot of love and support from a bunch of strangers."
