A four-year-old girl who underwent routine x-rays after falling off her scooter was found to have cancer.

Darcey Chandler, from Canterbury, was taken to a minor injuries unit with pain in her arm after tumbling onto the pavement.

But the visit would turn into every parent’s worst nightmare as it signalled the start of the youngster’s battle with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Recalling the accident in June 2020, Darcey’s dad, Graham, said: “It did not seem a serious incident at the time. In fact, my initial response was to simply say to her ‘up you get, you’ll be OK’. But by the following day she was still complaining of pain in her arm.

“We took her to a local walk-in centre where something unusual was spotted on her x-ray.

“Nobody was quite sure exactly what was wrong, so it was decided she would need further scans and at this point, her bloods were taken.”

The test results were abnormal so Darcey was moved to a local hospital for further examinations.

“We really had no idea what they were looking for,” said Mr Chandler, 41.

“From our point of view, the worst-case scenario was that she had a broken arm.”

After Darcey was moved into a private side room, Mr Chandler and his wife Kelly began to suspect something more serious was wrong.

And their fears were confirmed the following day when they were told Darcey had cancer.

“It was a total shock,” said Mr Chandler.

“Up until now, we were just a normal family. I had never known anyone who had cancer and I was filled with questions: What does this mean? What are Darcey’s chances? What journey will we all have to go on? Everything we were dealing with was new.”

Darcey, whose younger brother Henry was just one at the time, was blue-lighted to a London hospital and began chemotherapy immediately.

She spent four weeks as an inpatient and even ended up in intensive care at one point.

Mr Chandler said: “Despite losing her hair, she handled the chemo reasonably well, but it soon became apparent that it was not working as well as the doctors had hoped, so she was put on a more aggressive treatment.”

After 30 weeks, tests revealed Darcey’s only option was a stem cell transplant, but no one in her family was a close enough match.

Fortunately, a near-perfect match was found for her in a donor from Germany and in February 2021 the transplant took place.

It was deemed a success and Darcey spent the next two years in remission and even went back to school as “life returned to normal”.

But in May last year she suffered a relapse, with the disease again discovered after she suffered a fall.

“It was a shock to everyone, including her consultant, who told us it was very rare to relapse this long after a successful transplant,” said Mr Chandler.

“Darcey had fallen over at school and was complaining about pain in her arm - the same arm that she had originally hurt when she fell from her scooter.

“We took her to A&E, where an x-ray confirmed she had no broken bones. Her blood results were a little strange, but nothing too alarming.

“Her consultant suggested we do a bone marrow biopsy, just to reassure us there was nothing sinister going on. He was not expecting any cancer to show up, especially with Darcey having been in remission for this long post-transplant. Darcey’s arm pain subsided and we got on with life, assuming everything was OK.

“But a week later, her biopsy results came back and they revealed her cancer had indeed returned. It was a horrific shock for all of us and once again we were filled with anxiety over what would happen next and what Darcey’s options would be now.”

The family were told they had little choice but to put Darcey forward for CAR-T therapy - a type of immunotherapy that involves collecting and using the patients’ own immune cells to treat their condition.

The treatment would take place at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, meaning one of Darcey’s parents would have to be by her side while the other remained at home with Henry.

There were also the financial worries of frequent travel costs and the fact both parents were having to take long periods off work.

“At this point, I was told about Leukaemia Care’s CAR-T Away From Home Service, which truly provided a lifeline for us at this incredibly difficult time,” said Mr Chandler.

“Leukaemia Care provided us with hotel accommodation close to the hospital so that as a family, we could remain close together, offering emotional support to Darcey and to one another. We were able to visit Darcey during her treatment.

“Without the grant we received from Leukaemia Care, there is no way we could have afforded to be together and an already difficult situation would have been far more stressful.”

Now, almost eight months on from her treatment, Darcey is doing well and will remain on maintenance drugs for another two years.

“For now we are hopeful and positive,” Mr Chandler said.

“Darcey doesn’t really understand how seriously ill she has been over the last four years. It is all she has ever known and it’s just been a part of her life.

“As parents, it’s hard to look back and remember the times before she became ill, when we were just a normal family without the anxieties we face today.

“But we are making it a priority to make memories and after so many months of separation, we are enjoying every minute together.”

Darcey’s cancer fight will feature as part of the BBC’s Lifeline Appeal film for Leukaemia Care at 1.50pm on BBC One on Sunday.