Baby Diagnosed With Rare "Blueberry Muffin" Cancer Makes a Miraculous Recovery

She had to get her first round of chemotherapy when she was just two days old.

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After a brave fight with chemotherapy treatment, a six-month-old baby has finally been declared cancer-free.

Mia McConnelogue was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of leukemia, known as Blueberry Muffin Syndrome, before she was even been born. Her mother, Stephanie, 29, knew that something had felt wrong throughout her pregnancy.

When McConnelogue was finally born, she was covered in spots. The cancer caused blue lesions to appear all over her small body, hence its unique name. Stephanie explained, "The midwife who was there was very old, and she said in her 43 years in the job she had never seen anything like it."

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After hours of testing shortly following her birth, doctors told Stephanie that her daughter had acute myeloid leukemia. They gave thenewborn a 50% chance of survival, and they knew they needed to act fast. McConnelogue went through her first round of chemotherapy when she was only two days old. Stephanie said, "I couldn't believe that it was happening. I felt like I was in a dream and that I was going to wake up some time. We were all just devastated. I was terrified she was going to die, absolutely terrified."

McConnelogue went through three more rounds of the treatment and even had to undergo a bone marrow transplant at three months old. But amazingly, after just a few days of treatment, the lesions began to fade. Within two weeks, they were gone entirely.

The tiny baby, at six-months-old, has finally defeated her cancer and survived.

Even the effects of chemotherapy have started to dissipate. Stephanie said, "Now all her eyebrows and her hair is all growing back. She was born with hair and then it all fell out because of the chemo."

Stephanie believed that had she not fought with doctors to continue treatment with McConnelogue, her newborn daughter would have died. Stephanie said, "Mia is a miracle. There are no words to describe it. She is unbelievable." 

She added, "You wouldn't even know that she has been through anything. She is a happy, healthy little baby."


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