After a two-year battle with leukemia, girl finally able to celebrate Christmas cancer-free

After two years of not-so-merry Christmas and fighting one of the toughest battles of her life, six-year-old Mia Preston received the one Christmas miracle she could ask for. At the tender age of four, she was unfortunately diagnosed with leukemia and spent the next two years receiving treatment. Finally, after two long years of battling the illness, six-year-old Mia received the best Christmas present ever. She has officially been declared cancer-free, Fox News reports.

Mia was diagnosed with leukemia when she began experiencing terrible chest pains and nose bleeds. At first, the Preston family was told that the pain little Mia was feeling in her legs was only "some kind of virus." When the "virus" didn't go away, they sought out more opinions from doctors. After visiting several other professionals, the Prestons learned that the young girl had childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This is a type of cancer wherein the bone marrow produces excessive immature white blood cells. Symptoms of the illness include fever and bruising, joint or bone pain, painless lumps, weakness, and loss of appetite, among other things. To treat ALL, doctors may recommend chemotherapy, radiation, stem cell transplants, and targeted therapy. Each of these treatment methods, as you would assume, come with their own set of side effects which affect each child in multiple ways.

However, once she was properly diagnosed, Mia simply put on a brave face and "kept calm and carried on" while she underwent the rather rough treatment plan. After all, chemotherapy can't be easy on a four-year-old girl. Despite how tough it was, she powered through 28 months of exhausting treatment and has finally made it to the other side - cancer-free. She rang the “end of treatment bell” at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge early last week. In order to celebrate, the Prestons visited a Winter Wonderland display this weekend. Her father Andy Preston shared in an interview with Fox News, "We don’t know how she managed to keep going, but she did. She really didn’t complain, she didn’t really cry – she asked why she was poorly, but we didn’t talk about the cancer too much."

"It’s been hellish for all of us, but we’re so relieved and just so happy that Mia’s been able to pull through this," he continued. "She had a wonderful time at Center Parcs at the weekend and got the chance to meet Santa and update her Christmas list. Mia’s a tough cookie, it’s been amazing to see her try to get on with putting all this nasty stuff behind her – and just get back to being a kid. As positive as she’s been every year, we’ve not seen Mia with such a big smile on her face – it’s turning out to be the perfect Christmas." That sounds like quite possibly the sweetest Christmas miracle ever.