'The most horrifying thing I've ever had to do': Utah parents describe gut-wrenching moment they told their eight-year-old daughter she had breast cancer - after they both fought the disease
- Chrissy Turner was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer aged just 8
- The youngster's mother has described the moment she broke the news
- Annette Turner said it was the most 'horrifying' thing she ever had to do
- When informed, Chrissy broke down and told her mother she was terrified
- However, she has now undergone surgery and is confirmed cancer-free
Chrissy Turner, of Utah, was just eight years old when her parents gave her the news only an adult would hope to never hear - she had cancer.
She is one of the youngest people in the world to ever suffer breast cancer after she discovered a small but painful lump on her chest.
Her parents, Annette and Troy - who had both suffered from the disease - have now revealed the heartbreaking moment they had to break the news to their daughter.
Chrissy Turner, 8, underwent mastectomy surgery in early December to remove cancer from her lymph nodes
The brave girl is one of the youngest in the world to suffer from breast cancer - but a recent ultrasound has confirmed she is now cancer free. Here she is pictured being led through the hospital
Mrs Turner said: 'Telling my little girl, who’s only eight years old, that she has breast cancer was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever had to do,' The Mirror reported.
'She gasped and started crying: "Mummy I’m scared. I’m so scared". I just held her and said, "We’re going to be here for you and we’re going to fight this. You’re brave. You’re going to win".
'Later, when Chrissy was in bed, I collapsed on the floor saying, "Why my baby girl? Why couldn’t it be me? Why has an eight-year-old got breast cancer?"'
Both Mrs Turner and her husband - a veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm - had suffered the disease themselves.
She had beaten cervical cancer when her oldest daughter Brianna - now 16 - was six-months-old, while Mr Turner is on a 'wait and watch' routine after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2008.
Several doctors first dismissed Chrissy's lump as an infection or a non-cancerous breast tumour.
After receiving a third opinion on the lump, it was confirmed as secretory breast carcinoma - a slow going breast cancer.
However, late last year Chrissy underwent a masectomy and a recent ultrasound confirmed she was now cancer-free.
When Chrissy (left) awoke from her surgery, she found her bear named Andy (right) sporting a bandage just like her
As she grows older and develops, doctors will use a 'tissue expander' which can be slowly inflated like a balloon in her chest to keep the right side of her chest the same size as her left.
Because of this surgery, Chrissy was able to avoid radiation therapy, which can severely weaken cancer patients.
'She’s been really brave and this is a big person’s surgery for such a little girl,' Mrs Turner had previously told ABC News. 'She’s been through a lot.'
On a Facebook page the family set up to keep friends up to date on Chrissy's progress, the Turners posted pictures of their daughter bravely walking into surgery in early December, holding a medical worker's hand and wearing a pair of pink socks.
When she came out of surgery, she was also given her bear named Andy, dressed up in doctor's scrubs and sporting a bandage on its chest.
The Turner family first noticed something was bothering Chrissy in early fall last year, when she came home with a lump on her chest.
'It was about the middle of October she came to us with a lump on her chest and was scared,' her father Troy told ABC4 Utah News.
To her parents' horror, tests revealed she was suffering from the very rare form of breast cancer.
'I was scared the first time I knew about it,' she said. 'But I knew I could fight it off and I hope that I can fight it off.'
Mrs Turner said: 'It's a struggle every day worrying about my family, about my husband and now my baby girl.'
Friends of the family also started a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money for medical bills while the Turners vowed to stay strong for their daughter.
'We're just going to keep fighting,' her mother said. 'Doing everything we can to smile every day and laugh every day and carry our head high and do our best to overcome this.'
Both of Chrissy's parents have suffered from cancer previously. Her father Troy (pictured) was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2008, while her mother, Annette, has battled cervical cancer
When she hits puberty, Chrissy will be given a implant that works similar to a balloon so doctors can inflate it to match the right side of her chest's natural development with her left
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