Two Missouri parents were concerned about the swelling of their daughter’s feet before receiving a devastatingly rare childhood cancer diagnosis.
Colton Akridge and Sarah Bates (@sarahdigm) shared a heartbreaking post on TikTok of their 4-month-old baby Eloise (Ellie), where the text overlay reads: “She has some swelling in her feet.” The next slide cuts to Ellie laying in a hospital bed with a Port-a-Cath on her chest.
“I truly thought she was just a very chubby baby,” Bates told Newsweek. “She weighed over 10 pounds at birth, and my first daughter was also a chunk with lots of rolls.”
@sarahdigm
But then Bates started to notice her baby’s feet looked puffier than usual. During a four-month checkup, Bates flagged this to the doctor; she pressed a finger into Ellie’s foot and left an indented print.
That subtle sign indicated edema, swelling caused by excess fluid. The pediatrician immediately tested a blood sample, which showed elevated protein levels, and Bates was sent to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for further testing.
“My mom came with me, which was great because I was worried sick,” Bates said. “I got a call almost immediately upon arriving home that we needed to pack our bags and we were being admitted to the hospital for further testing.”
The diagnosis came soon after: neuroblastoma, a rare but aggressive childhood cancer.
“Our doctor told us it was a fluke—her specific cancer markers were not genetic or caused by anything environmentally,” Bates said. “Basically, [neuroblastoma is] when a cell thinks it’s supposed to grow into an organ but goes haywire and turns into cancer.”
For Ellie, the symptoms were subtle but persistent: recurring thrush, newborn jaundice, frequent vomiting, irritability, and, eventually, developmental regression. But it was the swelling in her feet that gave them the first clear clue something was wrong.
Miraculously, the cancer was caught at Stage III, a rare stroke of luck for a disease often dubbed a “silent killer.”
“We are very lucky in so many ways—that her little body told us something was wrong; that the doctors took us seriously and did testing; and that she responded so well to treatment,” Bates said. “You hear so often of doctors dismissing patients. Our doctors at Baer Pediatrics in St. Louis were incredible.”
After surgeries and chemotherapy, Ellie is now nearly 6 and preparing to start kindergarten.
But hangovers of treatment still linger. Ellie has had major dental issues, such as crowns, discolorations, and the loss of six teeth in just a few months.
According to her mom, Ellie gets tired easily and they still go for annual scans, hearing and heart tests, and blood work to monitor for secondary cancers.
Due to the financial strain of treatments, the family has set up a GoFundMe page to help their daughter thrive after cancer.
Through it all, Bates and her husband remain grateful.
“She is literally our million-dollar baby, but I would pay that times a million for her,” Bates said. “We are so thankful for the continued love and support we have received from our family and friends, along with the absolute heroes from St. Louis Children’s Hospital who saved our baby’s life.”