Mom Finds Out Her Son Has Leukemia After Taking Him to Doctor to Get Possible Bug Bite Checked Out: 'My Gut Told Me Otherwise'

• A mom learned her son Ollie, then 5, had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) after she and her husband initially thought he could've been bitten by something while on a camping trip in the Australian bush

• "My gut told me otherwise," Anna said of knowing something was wrong, per the Starlight Children's Foundation website

• "At that moment, our lives changed forever. It felt as though someone had just reached into our chests and ripped our hearts out," she said of the moment the family learned about the diagnosis

A couple thought their young son might have been bitten by something while out in the Australian bush on a camping trip, but it ended up being much more serious than that.

Ollie, now 8, and his family — including his mom Anna and dad Andrew — "headed off for a final weekend away camping off-grid before school was due to start" three years ago, according to his story on the Starlight Children's Foundation page.

Ollie had "developed a fever after getting an infected toe the week prior" to the trip and in the 10 days that followed, he suffered from "consistent high temperatures, nose bleeds, bruising and extreme fatigue," the site stated.

Anna then noticed "something was terribly wrong" while the family — which also included Ollie's older siblings Isabella, Matilda and Elliott — was sitting around the campfire. After they headed home and booked an emergency doctor's appointment, bone marrow tests confirmed Ollie had acute lymphoblastic leukemia just days after he celebrated his 5th birthday, Starlight said.

“I looked over at Ollie and noticed he was extremely pale, and his lips were the same color as his face. I then noticed little red spots on his legs and face. We thought maybe he’d been bitten by something in the bush, but my gut told me otherwise,” Anna said, per the organization, which has helped "bring the fun, joy and laughter that helps sick kids be kids" for over 30 years, according to the site.

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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow — the spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are made, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Ollie "spent a grueling 123 days in hospital in the first year of his treatment," with Anna recalling the moment her son was transferred straight to the Children’s Hospital after being assessed by the doctor.

“I remember the GP telling me she was sending Ollie to ED for precautionary testing to rule out ‘one thing,’ ” Anna said, per Starlight. “I thought I was just being paranoid when I asked, ‘Could it be leukemia?’ ”

She told Australian news outlet Mamamia of learning about Ollie's diagnosis, "The doctors walked in and I saw a person with a badge, and it was an oncologist. The first question was, 'Do you know much about leukemia?' "

"It was like I was looking at the doctors talking, and their mouths were moving but I was in this whirlwind. I was looking at Ollie and he was looking at me, and looking at my husband. He was trying to be reassuring, but I could see the fear in his eyes," she told the publication. "Everything we had planned up until this point was going to dramatically change."

“At that moment, our lives changed forever. It felt as though someone had just reached into our chests and ripped our hearts out. Hearing the word 'cancer' as a parent is incredibly devastating," Anna added, per the Starlight website.

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The family started an Orange for Ollie group on Facebook, where they provide updates on the 8-year-old's health.

In a post on Monday, Jan. 27, they revealed that the youngster had "celebrated his birthday doing what he loves most … camping, riding his bike and being in water" last week, adding a cute montage clip.

"Happy 8th birthday to our beautiful boy. You are our hero, our heart, and one of our greatest gifts," the caption read.

Anna told Mamamia of it being three years since Ollie's diagnosis, "He remembers the scary moments… he's still fatigued even though he wants to give it his all. I still see those effects. I know there will be things that happen in the years to come, but we're trying to take it day by day."

PEOPLE reached out to the family via an Orange for Ollie email address, but they did not immediately respond.

Read the original article on People