Avery "The Poke Kid" Liam Garcia-Valentin

Our beloved son, Avery Liam Garcia-Valentin, known to so many as Avery the Poké Kid, passed away on September 18, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., at the age of 12, following an extraordinary eight-year journey with a rare childhood cancer.

Avery’s life cannot be measured by its length, nor should it be defined by the illness he endured. His was a life defined by courage, generosity, joy, and an unwavering love of life itself.

Diagnosed at only four years old, Avery endured more than any child ever should. His childhood was marked by surgeries, treatments, hospital stays, and profound physical challenges. Yet even in the darkest circumstances, Avery remained remarkably full of light. Cancer changed his body many times over, but it never changed the essence of who he was.

He loved deeply. He laughed easily. He dreamed boldly. Above all, Avery loved being alive.

Pokémon became one of Avery’s greatest joys and eventually a way for him to share that joy with the world. As Avery the Poké Kid, what began as a love of collecting and opening Pokémon cards grew into a remarkable community of hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Shortly before his passing, Avery reached one of his proudest milestones, earning his YouTube Silver Play Button.

But Avery’s greatest accomplishment could never be measured in followers, views, or milestones. It was measured in the lives he touched.

Avery possessed a rare generosity of spirit. He gave cards and gifts to other children, brought happiness into hospital rooms, and used his own journey to bring hope to families walking through difficult seasons of their own. He never wanted the world to feel sorry for him. He wanted the world to share in his joy.

Even as his illness progressed, Avery remained determined to experience life rather than simply endure it. He wanted another adventure, another laugh, another Pokémon pack to open, another day surrounded by the people he loved.

On September 18, surrounded by his family and held by those who loved him most, Avery took his final breath in the hospital’s rooftop garden, one of his favorite places.

We were there when he entered this world, and we held him as he left it.

For eight years, we believed it was our responsibility to carry Avery through the darkness. Only now do we fully understand how often he was the one carrying us.

Avery was our light. And somehow, that light traveled far beyond us.

In only twelve years, he touched children, families, friends, and people around the world, many of whom never had the privilege of meeting him but came to know and love his extraordinary spirit.

If Avery’s life leaves us with anything, we hope it is the lesson he taught simply by the way he lived:

Do not wait to live.

Love deeply. Give generously. Find joy in the smallest things. Hold the people you love close. Laugh whenever you can. And even when life does not unfold as you hoped, never stop searching for something beautiful within it.

Avery showed us that a meaningful life is not measured by the number of years we are given, but by the love, light, and joy we leave behind.

It was the privilege of our lives to be his parents.

His pain has ended, but his light has not.

It lives in our family, in the community he created, in every child he made smile, and in every person who chooses to live a little more fully because Avery showed them how.

Forever our son. Forever our light.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that anyone who wishes to honor Avery's memory to consider donating to his GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/59055dc01