Doctor overlooked toddler’s rib ‘lump’ as constipation — months later, he was fighting stage 3 cancer

In March 2023, when Hailey Robb was eight months pregnant with her third child, life seemed to be unfolding as expected — until one small detail disrupted everything.

While giving her two-year-old son, Carter, a bath, Hailey felt something unexpected near his left ribs — a small, firm “knot.” That same week, her husband, Austin, mentioned noticing it too while playfully tickling their son.

“My husband noticed it while tickling him. I noticed it while giving him a bath,” Hailey recounted. “We must’ve both noticed it around the same time and it came up in conversation soon after I noticed it.”

Ordinarily, Hailey was the worrier of the pair, so when Austin brought it up first, she knew it wasn’t trivial. A few days later, her mother — a nurse known for her calm practicality — spotted the same lump and urged them to have it checked.

Carter seemed otherwise healthy; aside from a recent cold and slight weight loss, there were no symptoms. Still, Hailey’s instincts whispered that something was off.

“Neither of us wanted to think it could be something serious, but we both had that gut feeling that we needed to get it checked out,” she said.

With their regular paediatrician recently retired, they saw a new doctor, who examined the lump and appeared unconcerned. “They didn’t really know what was going on, but they did feel the knot,” Hailey explained.

The doctor suggested bloating or constipation and ordered an X-ray, which was declared “normal.” Even so, Hailey left uneasy. “That didn’t sit right with me,” she admitted. “I remember thinking, ‘So we’re supposed to wait until something is emergent before finding out what this knot is?’”

Trusting her intuition, Hailey decided not to wait. The next day, she took Carter to the emergency department, joined by her mother, while Austin stayed behind for work. Guided by advice from two trusted medical friends, they travelled to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville.

“I’m not going to lie, the thought of it being cancer did cross my mind for a moment, but I brushed that off,” Hailey said. “I was trying to make myself believe it was possibly a cyst or maybe something else that could be easily treated.”

Tests were run — bloodwork, a CT scan, and an ultrasound. When the doctor returned, his expression alone confirmed her fears. He asked her to sit down before delivering the words every parent dreads: “Your child has cancer.”

Hailey’s world collapsed in that instant. “I didn’t really think that my child could have cancer,” she recalled. “No parent ever wants to think that might happen to their baby.”

Initially, doctors suspected a Wilms tumour, a type of kidney cancer with a high recovery rate. Surgery was scheduled to remove the kidney, but by divine timing — as Hailey puts it — an earlier slot opened up. During surgery, it became clear the tumour was larger and more aggressive than expected.

Carter’s diagnosis was changed to clear cell sarcoma — a rarer, more dangerous cancer.

Chemotherapy followed, each session taking more from the little boy’s strength. “He needed a blood transfusion after every chemo. He ended up getting an infection in his port once and was confined to his hospital room for days,” Hailey said. Yet Carter endured with quiet bravery.

By November 2023, scans revealed he was cancer-free. His port was removed that December — though even that brought complications when he briefly stopped breathing. “Seeing him hold that little cup with his port felt like victory,” Hailey recalled tearfully.

“All I could do was thank God for being with us. Thank God for being with his doctors and medical team. Thank God for every person who helped us along the way.”

Now, Carter is four years old — a lively, laughing child whose strength defies his past. His story, once born from fear and uncertainty, stands as a testament to faith, perseverance, and the power of a parent’s instinct.