Layla Grace on Twitter, passes at 2-years-old from Neuroblastoma

Layla Grace Marsh, a lovely little girl who's life was literally posted on Twitter at @LaylaGrace,, passed away at 2-years-old from Neuroblastoma on Tuesday.

Layla went to play with the angels early this morning. Rest in peace precious Layla. 11/26/2007 - 3/9/2010
about 6 hours ago via web

First, what is Neuroblastoma? According to Google Health, it is...

is a malignant (cancerous) tumor that develops from nerve tissue. It occurs in infants and children.

Layla Grace Marsh's parents used Twitter to track their daughter progress in dealing with the cancer and to gain additional help, medical and psychological.

It's more than sad to lose a child, but to lose your child in public view is a pain unimaginable. The Marsh's feel obligated to share their loss and pain with all of us, which can be comforting, but draining as well.

One example of this is in the constant crashing of the server hosting Layla Grace's website at LaylaGrace.org. It happened twice last week, so Layla's father had to go in and repair and upgrade the server for the onslaught of traffic.

Daddy had to upgrade the web server to handle all of the traffic. Lots of love for Layla!!! Site is back up now. http://laylagrace.org
2:37 PM Mar 7th via Tweetie

But technical issues aside, the main question some are asking is, is sharing a death on Twitter the "new norm". If one's at least half-way tech savvy and communicative there's no way to avoid the desire to share a loss. I've observed that the public sharing of a family death falls into two main camps: those who do and those who don't.

Personally, it's more cathartic to share the news but that's me.

May Layla Grace Marsh rest in peace.