The devastated parents of a 16-month-old girl said they knew something was wrong after they noticed a small bruise on their daughter's eyelid.
Harper Walker was just 13 months old when her parents Jenny Huddart and dad Adam Walker noticed the mark, which they initially thought must have come from a minor accident when playing with a toy as baby Harper was becoming more mobile.
However, when the bruise kept growing and started to push her eye out of shape, they knew it was something a lot more serious.
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The family of seven were told just after Easter that Harper has a rare form of cancer known as Neuroblastoma, a condition that affects around only 100 children per year. Further tests showed this was a stage four, high risk, cancer present in multiple locations across her body.
Jenny told the MEN: "Harper was born with hip dysplasia and had to be in a cast until last December and started moving more after that. We noticed in mid-February a little black dot near her eye but because she had been starting to move around more we thought she'd just hit herself with a toy.
"It started changing a bit but we thought maybe she had just rubbed it. But, then we noticed her eye starting to move up, like she had a lazy eye. At first the doctor wasn't concerned and said to come back in two weeks if it hadn't gone but by that point it would have been five weeks.
"We called to get a referral to an eye specialist but that was going to take another week as it had kept changing shape so we called 111 who told us to go to Salford Royal. They straight away told us we needed more tests but they don't have the right eye specialists at that hospital so sent us to Manchester Eye Hospital.
"We went in on Good Friday and Harper was admitted for tests and went home.
"On the Monday we got the phone call from the doctor asking us to go in where we were told they had found a lump in her sinuses. And then a biopsy confirmed and we were told Harper had stage four cancer. Further tests showed it was an aggressive form of Neuroblastoma."
Jenny said hearing the news made her go "numb". She said: "Apparently it's something that originally grows while she was a foetus, but there was no way of knowing about it until the little bruise appeared.
"We were told by people who've been doctors in this area for 33 years that they've never seen it present like this, we knew something wasn't right when it started to move her eye. It's just awful."
A gruelling 18 month course of treatment with chemotherapy and surgery has been started straight away to give Harper the best chance. She will also receive stem cell treatment and radiotherapy as part of this.
The family wants to get Harper treatment at the pioneering Sloan Kettering cancer centre in New York to give her a new form of treatment that increases her chances of survival up to between 60 and 70%. However, the treatment alone for this costs more than £280,000 with multiple trips over to the States needed for this.
Dad Adam set-up a JustGiving page where they are aiming to raise up to £300,000 to help fund this potentially life saving treatment. In just two days it has raised almost £18,000 with Jenny saying the family are "overwhelmed" by the support they have received so far.
Jenny added: "It's just heartbreaking. She's a happy child who's always smiling. We really want to give her the best chance to fight this.
"Over the past month we've only had six nights at home, with the rest of the time at the Manchester Children's Hospital. The staff and everyone there have been absolutely amazing and all the parents there help each other out. The people are just wonderful.
"It's been very difficult for the whole family, especially Harper's three brothers and sister. It's very unsettling for them, being in and out of hospital. But, we're trying to be as positive as possible for them, not going into the full extent of what is going on yet.
"The doctors have been really pleased with how it's gone so far so we're trying to be positive as possible with the kids. We're just all still coming to terms with it really, taking each day as it comes, there are good and bad days.
"We've just got to hope and pray."
To read and keep up with the full fundraiser, visit the Just Giving page here.
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