“Children Are Alive in Christ,” Ensign, Oct. 2012, 18
Children Are Alive in Christ1
In 1958 my brother Steven died, 13 years before I was born. He had suffered from Wilms’ tumor, a type of kidney cancer, and had undergone the body-racking pain of radiation therapy, a brand-new treatment in the 1950s. He was not yet two years old.
This loss caused unending grief to my dear mother. She loved her son; she wanted him to have a future as bright as his smile before he became sick. Her heart was crushed as she watched him waste away in agony. Although she has had many joys in her life, and the joy of five other children, the pain has never fully healed.
In the face of such pain I share this testimony: that Steven will live again, that his release from pain at such an early age was a sign of his great purity.
The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: “And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven” (D&C 137:10).
These words have brought great hope to me, though I have never seen my older brother, and I hope they bring peace to my mother and to all who grieve such loss.