Five-year-old Hannah Day, who has battled cancer twice already, has relapsed and her family is preparing for the worst.
"Our greatest fears have come true," Hannah's mother, Brooke Ervin, wrote on Facebook. "I'm beyond devastated."
Hannah was three when she was first diagnosed with a rare cancer found in her stomach. The Victoria, B.C. girl went into remission, but the treatment that cured her is believed to have caused the leukemia that was discovered about a year later.
In March, she underwent a risky and rare transplant, where she received stem cells from her mother. It was a success and Hannah was seemingly on her way to a normal childhood.
But on Tuesday, she got a fever after playing outside, reported CHEK News, and her health quickly deteriorated. Doctors confirmed that cancer has returned.
"It could be a week, it could be a month, it could be six months, we have no idea. All we know is that it's going to happen fast and this is it," Ervin told CBC News. "Her fight is over. She has lost her fight."
The oncologist told Ervin it's possible that Hannah may respond to low-dose chemotherapy that would at least allow her to live at home and go to school like "a normal kid — until she passes," said the Times Colonist.
Hannah Day, Victoria Girl, Battles Cancer
