A young Liverpool fan was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer after complaining that her tongue felt "spikey" and her jaw ached.
Doctors found a tumour half the size of a baseball in Adelaide Bay Coderre's cheek after an oral surgeon insisted the family seek medical help for what was originally thought to be just an abscessed tooth.
The rhabdomyosarcoma cancer mostly found in children and teens has since spread beyond the eight-year-old's face to other parts of her body.
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Now her family is raising money to help treat it.
Adelaide's grandmother Kathi Dumaine-savage, 63, broke down in tears when she heard the news this summer.
Kathi arrived home to see her husband with their son Keegan, who was waiting to tell them that Adelaide has cancer.
Her voice shaking, she told the ECHO : "Instead of supporting him when he told me, some kind of beast came out of me, and I wailed and made animal noises.
"I just, it brought me to my knees. I couldn't have imagined this. So I felt terrible that I was not able to comfort my child while I was in my misery."
Her "bright" granddaughter Adelaide takes after her veterinary mum's fascination in animals, and her STEM teacher dad's analytical mind
The "exceptionally kind" girl loves pranks and playing games with her little brother Hudson and their grandfather, "Pa", in their trio they call the PHA Team.
But she is now stuck at home, tired from chemotherapy every Friday.
The playful little girl, whose hair is coming out in clumps, has seen one friend in person since her diagnosis.
Since the age of three, prankster Adelaide has drawn spiders, which she leaves on her grandfather's pillow on his bed, or on the door of a closet, to scare her "Pa".
Now, every day, his "Pumpkin Pie" lies exhausted, looking at a Liverpool poster above the hospital bed they've set up in front of their living room TV.
In a country where people mostly follow baseball and American football, Adelaide and her family are "English soccer" fans.
Mo Salah is "her guy", and his 11 is her lucky number.
Kathi told the ECHO : "After her last chemo treatment, she could barely keep her eyes open.
"[Liverpool] was playing. With her eyes closed, she was listening and cheering the team on. About half way through, she just nodded off.
"First thing she said when she woke up was, 'Who won?'
"She's a crazy avid fan."
Adelaide's parents are taking time off work to care for their daughter, and to spend precious time with her as she goes through chemotherapy with a 60 percent chance of survival.
For the next year, they must travel between Connecticut where they live, for weekly treatment in Boston in the neighbouring state of Massachusetts to the north.
Adelaide's grandmother said that "this might be their year".
Dad Keegan's job as a STEM teacher is guaranteed, but he only gets paid for the sick days he has saved up.
His mum Kathi told the ECHO : "After Thanksgiving (November 25), he has no salary. They have no salary. And they will have to pay for their insurance.
"They need to be with her this year. So it's astronomical. We're just trying to keep this little family afloat so they can be together.
"It's inhumane."
Kathi herself is taking time off from her job as a primary school teacher, making the heart-breaking decision to step away from kids she'd promised to help grow.
She told the ECHO : "They're marvellous, but I was having trouble. My legs shook all day long, and my stomach was on fire.
"A child would say something sweet, and I'd burst into tears. A child would be awful, and I'd burst into tears, because why is my good, little girl so sick, and this child so awful.
"I lost an awful lot of weight, and I stopped sleeping, and I thought, 'Okay, I have sick days, I'm taking them'."
But their sick days will soon run out while the cost of travelling to treat their baby Adelaide mount.
They will be faced with a choice between spending time with their daughter and granddaughter as she goes through chemo with an unknown outcome.
Or returning to work to cover costs while trudging through life, each a shell of their former selves, each wishing they could be there more for Adelaide.
The family is raising funds to allow them to continue as they are, appreciating Adelaide as the girl they love and hope to keep around.
So far they've had fantastic help from their "very tight, supportive community", making it over half way to the $75,000 target on GoFundMe, which you can donate to here.
But the well soon runs dry in rural Connecticut.
Adelaide's family hopes help will come, believing firmly that "You never walk alone".
Grandmother Kathi told the ECHO : "I'm asking people to consider being kind to one another, including strangers.
"Even though it sounds trite, you never really know what people are carrying around with them.
"Maybe Adelaide is here to remind all of us that this world needs to be a more empathetic place."
