A nurse said Ally was just overfeeding her newborn. Then they found the real cause.

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Ally Green always dreamed of being a mum. When her "bright" and "vibrant" little girl Mackenzie was born, she was over the moon.

But two-and-a-half weeks into her motherhood dream, Ally, a mid-wife, noticed something "wasn't right" with her baby girl.

Mackenzie's stomach was "abnormally" large and distended.

"She was a small baby, so it was quite obvious when her stomach was quite large," Ally told Mamamia. "That was our one and only sign at the time."

Ally and her husband Jacob rushed Mackenzie to a community nurse, who dismissed their concerns.

Mackenzie was two-and-a-half weeks old when Ally and Jacob noticed something was wrong. Image: Supplied.

"[The nurse] weighed her and she had put on 600 grams within a week, which is quite a significant weight gain for a newborn," Ally explained. "She thought maybe we were overfeeding her … She was having breast milk, and you can't overfeed a breastfed baby, so I think originally when the nurse told us we were overfeeding her, my husband and I questioned it a little bit."

Over the next few days, Mackenzie's stomach got even bigger, and Ally's alarm bells started ringing even louder.

"It was becoming quite scary-looking. It was very veiny. It looked almost bruised, it was like pink and purple. It didn't even look like what a normal stomach would look like."

The new parents took their baby to their GP, who was immediately concerned and referred them to the hospital. There, doctors were quick to run tests, and suspected the baby had an obstructed bowel.

An ultrasound would discover the truth; tumours were growing on Mackenzie's adrenal gland, liver, and in her bone marrow.

Mackenzie had neuroblastoma, which is almost exclusively a childhood cancer. It occurs most commonly between the ages of 0-5 years. For children between two and five years old, the survival rate is said to be around 50 per cent, but for neonates, the survival rate varies.

Watch: How neuroblastoma is believed to form. Post continues after video.

"We were put into this little room, and basically through that whole conversation all we heard was tumours and oncology and then kind of had to put it all together," Ally said. "They're words that you, as a parent, never want to hear for your child. We had been parents for two weeks, and now we [were] being told our child has cancer."

Because the tumours were growing "rapidly," Mackenzie commenced treatment within days of her diagnosis. She would undergo four rounds of chemotherapy within the first four months of her life.

An ultrasound found tumours growing on Mackenzie's adrenal gland, liver, and in her bone marrow. Image: Supplied.

A week before her first birthday, in November 2024, the family got the news they had been hoping for — Mackenzie was in remission. Although her main adrenal gland tumour remains, it no longer contains neuroblastoma cells.

Ally is thankful for the fact Mackenzie did not have a "high-risk" neuroblastoma.

"We go back every six months now to make sure it is reducing down," Ally said, explaining that the surveillance period will last until Mackenzie is five-years-old. "Now she's very healthy. Looking at her, you wouldn't know she had cancer when she was a baby."

Mackenzie is now enjoying life as a healthy, happy toddler. Image: Supplied.

Ally, who is now expecting her second child, wants to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancers.

Both she and Jacob are participating in Neuroblastoma Australia's Run2Cure Brisbane event. Ally is set to complete the 10km run, while Jacob will run the half-marathon.

The young family now strive to grow awareness of childhood cancers. Image: Supplied.

Ally urges parents who may find themselves in a similar position to trust their gut, and to use the support around them.

"You know your child. I think for us, we knew something was wrong, and we followed through with it," she said. "As a parent you know your gut and you know when something is wrong, so find that confidence to go through with it."

Neuroblastoma Australia's Run2Cure is raising funds for childhood cancer. Register or donate today via run2cure.org.au.

Feature image: Supplied.