Watching your child battle cancer is one of the toughest things that a parent can go through. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the position that this mother found herself in when her 4 year-old daughter was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Just when the mother thought things could not get any worse, she learned that her daughter was being targeted by bullies at school who were mocking her for her cancer scars. The mom took to social media to reveal what happened next.

“My daughter was diagnosed with cancer at four years old. Four. Years. Old,” the mom began. “Bone cancer, Ewing’s Sarcoma She didn’t know how to ride a bike, had never stepped into a classroom, and spent most of her days in a tutu. In the next year, she would endure more pain and suffering than most adults see in a lifetime. She would attend funerals of friends she met and loved, who were lost to the same disease she was fighting.”

The little girl went through more as a small child than many people go through in a lifetime.

“She would lose her beautiful head of blonde curls, nearly all of her muscle mass, and her childlike innocence,” her mom wrote. “Her tumor was located in the middle of her back, between two ribs, touching her spine.”

The location of the tumor made it difficult for doctors to operate.

“Treatment was brutal. Seventeen rounds of chemotherapy over the course of a year,” her mom said. “Multiple surgeries, including the removal of four ribs, part of her spine sheath, and a spinal fusion. Finally, she was declared in remission. I took home a frail, pale, bald, five-year-old, covered in scars.”

After all of this, the girl had to endure bullying from her classmates at school.

“That was now three years ago. If you met my daughter today, this story would likely shock you,” the mother said. “Though small for 8 years old, she is beautiful, healthy, muscular, outgoing, funny, a talented, competitive dancer, and an honor roll student.”

“Yet there is some healing that will never come. Every so often the realization that she is still here, while some children are not, weighs heavy on her brave heart,” she continued. “Then, a few weeks ago, on a rushed morning, I threw her shorts and a tank top and asked her to get dressed. She quietly asked me for a different shirt. Oblivious and in a hurry, I said, ‘Why? You loved that one. Just put it on. We gotta go.’”

The girl told her mom, “A boy at camp told me I shouldn’t wear shirts that show my scars. He said they are scary.”

“I just want to be normal,” the child sobbed.

Her mom was stunned by this, but she the reminded her daughter that she had the opportunity to inspire other little girls with scars like hers. This turned everything around for the girl, and she headed to camp that day with a smile ready to show her bullies who’s boss!