A two-year-old girl was just hours from death after being told at least five times by GPs, including an out-of hours-doctor, that nothing was seriously wrong.

Despite reassurances that Sofia Stanton had nothing more than a common cold, she suffered a collapsed lung and was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.

The youngster from Elmstone Lane, Maidstone, had been ill for around two months before the condition was discovered.

It got to the point where she was constantly struggling for breath and could no longer get up the stairs.

Mum Zoe said she had been back and forth to the Vine Medical Centre in Tonbridge Road, but that GPs said her precious daughter was simply suffering from a cold or chest infection.

She was prescribed antibiotics, or sent home with no treatment.

Surveyor dad Danny, 33, said: “You have to believe the doctors, they are the experts.”

The final straw came when Sofia’s left side shrank and turned blue at a family party.

Her parents rushed her to Tunbridge Wells Hospital where they were told she had a collapsed lung.

Zoe, 31, who works part time for a surveyors in Wateringbury, said: “We had no idea how serious it was. We were reassured that everything would be fine.”

But then the couple were given the heart-breaking news that Sofia had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

“Nothing can really prepare you for that,” said Danny, who himself battled and beaten skin cancer, diagnosed the day before Sofia was born.

The family were rushed up to St George’s Hospital in London, where Sofia spent two weeks in intensive care.

Danny said: “We couldn’t bear to be away from her. Eventually I had to go home, earn some money and look after our other daughter, Ava..”

After five weeks at the Royal Marsden, Sofia is now undergoing daily chemotherapy at home.

Zoe: “I’d never want another parent to go through this. But it is so good to see her laughing and happy now.”

The Vines Medical Centre said it could not comment at present.