After Going Through 5 Rounds of Chemo, This Toddler Took the Sweetest Remission Photos

Updated on April 12, 2019 at 9:30 AM

Chelsea Hughes

Chelsea Hughes had described her sweet baby Molly as "chubby" right after she was born. While we can't get enough of those adorable rolls ourselves, Chelsea had a feeling something wasn't right with her 4-month-old. After the mom noticed that Molly's stomach was getting larger by the day, she took her to the ER to get checked out and received news no parent wants to hear: her baby had neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects the adrenal glands.

"I never thought we would be able to make it through it all, but we did, and the cancer is gone and she is a thriving toddler."

"They thought she had blocked bowels, but after they did the CT scan, they found a softball-size tumor on her right adrenal gland," Chelsea told POPSUGAR. "She was only 4 months old, and I never knew babies could even get cancer; we were completely caught off guard and devastated. When her doctors told us everything she would have to go through, I never thought we would be able to make it through it all, but we did, and the cancer is gone and she is a thriving toddler."

And while getting the news was devastating enough, the process to get her little girl better was even harder. "The cancer had spread throughout most of her body, so she had to go through five rounds of chemo, surgery to remove the tumor, two stem cell transplants, 12 days of radiation, and six rounds of immunotherapy," Chelsea explained. "There were some days that I didn't know how we would make it to the next day, but God gave us the strength we needed to make it through it all. She got very sick through some of it, and it was so awful seeing her like that and knowing there was nothing I could do to help her."

Overall, Molly spent 130 nights at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Tennessee, and most of her doctors and nurses became like family. Finally at 21 months, Molly and her parents got the news they'd been praying for: she had beaten stage 4 neuroblastoma. Other than playing outside and enjoying bubbles — one of her favorite things — Molly took some sweet "I am in remission" photos to commemorate the special moment.

"We were so relieved when Molly's doctor called to tell me that her scans were clear and she had no evidence of disease," Chelsea said. "It took 15 months and all of that hard treatment to get all of the cancer out of her body. We are so glad that she has so much behind her and we can start to live a somewhat normal life again."

And while the Hughes family has every right to celebrate this huge victory, Chelsea knows her daughter's treatment is far from over. "Cancer changes your life forever, so I don't think our life will ever be normal again," she said. "She will continue to have scans for years to make sure the cancer doesn't return. She started a trial drug this week that she will take for five years to help prevent relapse."

As for what Chelsea has planned for the rest of her toddler's days? Embrace life as much as possible and celebrate whenever they can. According to this grateful mama, Molly's support system absolutely adored the remission pictures.

"We have had so many people pray and support our family through all of this, so we wanted to take a cute picture of her to share the good news of her remission," Chelsea explained. "She is such a happy little girl and is loving life right now. She loves playing outside with her big brother. I am so glad that she's so young and won't remember any of her treatment."