After a lump was found on the leg of Lily Walker the day before her third birthday her mum knew exactly how life-changing it could be.
Cindy was diagnosed with breast cancer two months earlier and already knew she had a gene which could have been passed to her child.
A week after the lump was found, Cindy received the news she was dreading - Lily also had cancer, known as rhabdomyosarcoma.
Now, Cindy and her young daughter are both bravely battling the condition together.
The 35-year-old was completely unaware she had a cancer gene until a distant cousin contacted her to get checked.
Telling her story to ChronicleLive, Cindy said: "My dad had already had cancer, and he was tested again for the gene, which he does have.
"My sister and I were then told we could go for yearly MRI scans. My sister went and she was fine, then I went and was asked to go back. On July 21 this year, they told me they'd found breast cancer on my first MRI scan and that I needed a lumpectomy."
Cindy got an infection after an operation and has had an open wound for around six weeks, which still hasn't healed fully.
Once the wound has been treated, Cindy will begin her chemotherapy before undergoing a double mastectomy.
"That's because of the gene, they basically told me I'd get cancer again, so told me I might as well not get breast cancer again." She said.
But with her cancer diagnosis, Cindy's world was again turned upside down a day before her daughter Lily's third birthday.
She explained: "My husband Anthony, 37, was putting some knee pads on Lily so she could go out on her bike and he found a lump on her leg.".
Cindy, who also has an 11-year-old step-daughter called Emily, said. "Obviously, because of my cancer gene I believed it was a tumour straight away and decided to get her to the doctor."
Appointments was made at Cramlington Hospital , before Lily was transferred to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infi rmary , where she was scanned, with a cancerous mass being revealed in her leg on September 11.
"Since then, there's been test after test, she's on her third round of chemo now.” Cindy said
"She has that every week and she will also have to have an ovary taken out for the future, that will be frozen.
"They can also test her ovaries to see which egg has the cancer gene, so when she's older, has a partner and wants to have a baby, she can use the egg which doesn't have the cancer gene, which is really clever."
Lily will also have to get her right calf muscle removed, meaning her walking will be impaired, and a muscle from her back will be put into the leg.
Further down the line she will have to get more aggressive chemotherapy.
Cindy added: "She has good days, she has bad days. She's lost all of her hair, she's got a tube running from her nose to her tummy as she won't take medicines.
"She's just a poorly child. She also has a permanent tube running through an artery to her heart so they can take blood and give her medicines.
"They can do a lot with it, but she's took really well to it. She just gets poorly from the chemo, she's just a sick, poorly kid. Anthony is just being so strong for all of the family."
Following Cindy and Lily's cancer diagnoses, the mum is now urging women to check their breasts for lumps and also wants parents to check their children, too.
"With me I don't think I would have went to the doctors straight away if I'd found a lump and hadn't already had cancer", Cindy said.
"I probably would have left it, thinking it's just a boil or an abscess. But it's so important to get it checked out to be safe."
A GoFundMe page has also been set up for the family, donations can be made HERE .
