A two-year-old girl found to have a rare form of ovarian cancer has been given the all clear.
McKenna Shea Xydias - known as Kenni - was found to have an ovarian yolk sac tumour, a rare form of the cancer often found in children under two, in February 2018.
Following this, the toddler went through four stages of chemotherapy.
The littlen was first diagnosed when Kerri's parents, Parents Mike and Meagan Xydia, of Senoia, Georgia, received a call from her nursery in January saying that she had a fever. Her parents took her home, nursed her back to health and that was that.
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A couple of weeks later, on 7th February, Kerri's nursery called again telling her parents her belly appeared uncomfortably bloated.
"We walked into the ER thinking our daughter had a blockage in her bowels causing her stomach to be distended. We had been to the paediatrician already that day with momma crying saying 'something is wrong and it's not gas.' So we were sent to the children's hospital for a follow up ultrasound," the parents explained in a Facebook post.
"Through a whirlwind of events, we find that our 2 year old has several cancerous tumors, will need surgery immediately, and will be going through chemo treatments right after [sic]."
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"The immediate reaction was, 'How could this happen?'" dad Mike told Good Morning America after Kerri's diagnosis. "I knew of this being [more common] in women. I didn't realise that it could happen to such a young kid."
On 12th June, the family received some incredible news: Kerri had a clean bill of health.
"Dr. Sutton came in - she just got straight to it and said, 'Scans were clear. There's nothing there,'" Meagan told GMA. "We sat and cried and held each other for a minute."
"She's a rock star," Dr. Katie Sutton, paediatric oncologist for the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, told GMA. "She had no serious or unexpected side effects aside from requiring occasional blood transfusions."
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Kerri's rare form of childhood ovarian cancer accounts for less than 5 per cent of all ovarian cancer cases, according to the National Centre For Advancing Translational Services.
Here's to a long and healthy life for Kerri!
For support or advice on ovarian cancer, visit Ovarian Cancer Action here.
Topics: Life News, Real, Cancer, Health