Then-4-year-old Bryn Ailinger loved dancing and gymnastics and was “always running around.” Suddenly in April 2024, she started complaining that her legs hurt.

“It progressed over a two-week period to where she didn’t even really want to walk and ended up wanting to get carried around,” dad Justin Ailinger, 40, of Buffalo, New York, tells TODAY.com. “We were at a birthday party (and) they had some roller skating and she didn’t want to participate.”

Despite several months-long stays in the hospital and undergoing many intense treatments, Bryn remained happy and upbeat while undergoing cancer. Courtesy the Ailinger family

Her parents knew something was wrong with their lively toddler, so they took her to the pediatrician who did bloodwork. When the results came in, the Ailinger family i

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