Parents of a cancer-stricken toddler have today revealed how they assumed her symptoms were down to a virus instead.
Ava Bolton, from East Ayrshire, Scotland, had bruising around her eyes and started walking with a limp around Christmas time.
Soon after, the three-year-old became sick, pale and lethargic.
Her parents, Scott and Natalie, both 34, thought it was a virus but after the little one refused to walk they took her to a GP.
Ava was referred to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow in mid-January.
Blood tests and a bone marrow sample revealed she had stage four neuroblastoma which had spread throughout her body.
A CT scan showed it had reached her back, shoulders, pelvis, hip and shin.
Natalie, a primary care nurse, said their family's 'whole world collapsed' and they are 'utterly devastated'.
Ava is said to have been very healthy and only ever caught the odd cold before the diagnosis.
Doctors also initially told the parents they suspected it to be transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC) - a type of anaemia.
Neuroblastoma mainly affects babies and young children. It develops from specialised nerve cells - neuroblasts - left behind from a baby's development in the womb.
By stage four, the cancer has spread to parts of the body that are some distance from where it started - most commonly to the bones, bone marrow or liver.
Some 100 children in the UK and 800 youngsters in the US are diagnosed with the rare cancer every year, which is most common in under-fives.
Around half of those diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma will live for five years after their diagnosis.
Discussing her daughter's diagnosis, Natalie said: 'She takes it all in her stride.
'She has made us very proud of how she is coping with everything.
'She's always had a smile on her face and is a little chatterbox - keeping all of the staff amused with her antics.
'But she does miss being at home spending time with her brother, Lucas, five, and her nursery friends.'
Ava will spend six weeks in an isolation room for six weeks in hospital and once she has recovered from chemo, she will have targeted radiotherapy before having six months of immunotherapy.
Scans show the toddler's disease is 'moving in the right direction'.
Her family are now raising money to send her to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York for a new vaccination treatment which aims to stop the disease from returning.
The vaccine is designed to trigger the patient's body to make antibodies to attack the cancer cells.
It is not currently available in the UK, but the family have raised £107,000 to date - nearly half of their £250,000 target.
Natalie said: 'We are hopeful that we will reach our target - we are almost halfway after only two months and have had an amazing response from our local community.
'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.
'Without this treatment, Ava is more likely to relapse reducing her chances of survival - this is something we are not willing to take a chance on.'