22 Kids and Counting's Sue Radford pays emotional tribute after heartbreaking loss

Sue Radford, the familiar face from 22 Kids and Counting, was left feeling emotional as she remembered her young friend Sophie Walker, who tragically died.

The reality TV favourite took to social media, calling for donations in memory of Sophie, who lost her life at the age of 17 after bravely battling cancer.

Sophie, whose struggle began when she misread signs of Wilms' tumour as stomach ailment back in 2017, sadly declined last July.

Yesterday, Sophie's relatives posted an emotive tribute on Instagram, marking a year since the teen faced a turn for the worse: "Today marks a year since Sophie rapidly started to decline."

Her loved ones shared their anguish with an agonising recount: "The next few weeks are going to be super hard as we relive what went wrong and what we should've done differently," reports Lancs Live.

In a heart-wrenching lament, they recalled seeing Sophie in excruciating pain and the helplessness that followed: "It's absolutely heartbreaking seeing her face in so much pain sitting in this chair, her back was in agony from the rapidly growing tumours and we were absolutely desperate and terrified at the same time.

"We had a private blood test in Germany and the results weren't good at all, we knew we were coming to the end of the road and wanted to try and reverse it. Which just wasn't possible," before signing off with an endearing mention of "Our beautiful girl Sophie."

Accompanying these words of loss and remembrance was a screenshot shedding light upon Sophie's attempts to alleviate her suffering through various treatments.

Sue Radford, a family friend, expressed her heartfelt support, commenting: "You and Jamie are the most amazing parents who fought tirelessly for Sophie," she wrote.

"This picture breaks my heart. We miss Sophie so much life is just so unfair," Sue continued, adding a sad face emoji to her message. "It breaks my heart."

The touching tribute prompted a wave of support from fans in the comments section, offering their condolences to the grieving family.

"Sending your family so much love. I watched your journey, your love and devotion was endless, I'm so sorry nothing could save her," one user shared.

"You did EVERYTHING you could for her. You do not own an ounce of blame," another person offered. "There is nothing you could have done differently. Cancer is a beast," remarked a third commenter.

"It breaks my heart she was such a strong warrior and did not deserve this. She is often thought of as are you all sending hugs at this very difficult time," a fourth sympathiser wrote.