Mike and Meagan Xydias are living every parent’s worst nightmare after their 2 year-old daughter McKenna was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer on February 15.

Doctors first thought that the little girl’s distended stomach was the result of constipation or gas, but they eventually realized that it was actually an ovarian yolk sac tumor.

Mike explained that he and his wife, who are both teachers, had noticed that there was something wrong with their daughter. Neither of them acted on it until they got a call from McKenna’s daycare last month saying that the child had a fever.

When they were called again on February 7 by daycare workers saying that McKenna seemed bloated and uncomfortable, they took her to the doctor.

“We took her to the doctor,” Mike said. “At that point they thought it was gas so they told us to give her gas drops and let them know if she got any more fevers.”

The daycare called once again a week later to say that McKenna had a 102 degree fever.

“I pick her up, I have to stay home with her the next day,” Mike said. “The whole [next] day she was fine, no temperature. But she had difficulty using the bathroom. Meagan made an appointment for her Feb. 14 in the afternoon. That day, daycare called. She had a fever of 103.”

It was then that Meagan took McKenna in to get X-rays, which is when doctors finally found the tumors growing around her ovaries.

“We were blindsided, we thought it was constipation,” Mike said. “At the very worst, we thought maybe she would have to have surgery to empty her bowels, but we never thought it was going to be cancer.”

“The immediate reaction was ‘How could this happen?'” he added. “I knew of this being [more common] in women. I didn’t realize that it could happen to such a young kid.”

The childhood form of ovarian cancer is indeed exceedingly rare, making up less than five percent of all ovarian cancer cases.

“Among all ages combined, Ovarian Germ Cell Tumors ‘GCTs’ (including, yolk-sac tumors like Kenni had) make up about one in four ovarian tumors in all ages with about one in five of those tumors being cancerous, and only one in five of those being yolk-sac tumors,” explained Dr. Robert Wenham, chairman of Moffitt Cancer Center’s Gynecological Oncology Program.

McKenna had to have surgery to remove her right ovary as well as five inches of her small intestine. She has since begun chemotherapy treatment, and doctors are confident that she will respond well to this.

Mike has said that the hardest part about all of this is knowing that they will need to have some difficult talks with McKenna about her future.

“The one that hit home the hardest was talking to a fertility nurse about our 2-year-old’s future fertility possibilities,” he explained. “We try to take every day one step at a time, but having to consider how these tumors and consequential chemo will potentially effect Kenni in the long run, forces us to look at the big picture as well. Not sure we’re quite ready for big picture just yet. Smaller bites can be easier to swallow.”

Mike and Meagan decided to go public about their daughter’s story in the hopes of encouraging other parents take control of their child’s health.

“I know it can be hard as a mom to go to your doctor and say, ‘Something is not right’ because they know what they’re doing, but sometimes you have to trust your gut,” Meagan said. “I hope after hearing Kenni’s story people are willing to say, ‘Hey, can you do one more check?'”

“I know Meagan and I both agree that Kenni is our hero with how she’s dealing with this,” Mike added. “She is a ball of energy and a stereotypical 2-year-old. She’s the youngest child, where she is the boss and she’s extremely stubborn, which a great character trait in going to fight cancer. She doesn’t let anything stop her.”

Please keep this brave little girl in your thoughts and prayers.