The parents of a three-year-old battling cancer say they mistook their daughter's symptoms for a virus.
Ava Bolton, from East Ayrshire, Scotland, developed bruising around her eyes and began walking with a limp towards the end of last year. She then became sick, lethargic and pale.
Her mum and dad, Scott and Natalie, both 34, initially assumed it was a virus, but when the youngster refused to walk they became more concerned and took her to see a GP.
She was then referred to hospital where doctors were convinced she had transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC), which they thought was caused by a previous virus and would pass over time.
But a specialist in Glasgow ordered further tests and the family were told the devastating news that Ava had stage four neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that mainly affects babies and young children.
It develops from specialised nerve cells (neuroblasts) left behind from a baby's development in the womb. Around 100 people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease each year.
More scans revealed that Ava had a primary tumour on her back with secondary tumours on her shoulder, pelvis, hip and shin.
Scott told Ayrshire Live: "To find out our little girl had cancer was just devastating. Our whole world collapsed.
“Initially you are thinking it is okay, it is just a virus. It will go away itself. To then be told she has cancer is nothing we could have ever imagined.
“When you hear it was neuroblastoma, you start googling things and it really scares you. We were starting to believe everything was okay, then it felt like we’d hit rock bottom.”
Ava has since undergone months of treatment at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow including several rounds of chemotherapy, and is set to be treated with radiotherapy and immunotherapy.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Natalie said scans show the disease is "moving in the right direction".
Ava's parents are now raising money to send the toddler to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York for a new vaccination treatment which aims to stop the disease from returning.
The vaccine, which is designed to trigger a person's body to make antibodies that attack the cancer cells, is not available in the UK.
They family need £250,000 and have already raised just more than £100,000.
Natalie said: "We have spoken with various families who have been through or are currently going through the treatment from MSK in New York with great results so far, which gives us hope and confidence in the treatment.'
Scott described his daughter as "a fighter", adding: "For someone so young, to go through what she is, she has been so brave.
“She has just amazed us all with her resilience, keeping her cheeky smile and making us so proud of how she is coping though out it all."
You can donate to Ava's fundraiser here.
