This Mom Thought Her Daughter Had An Ordinary Bug Bite… Until It Almost Killed Her

Bug bites are typically nothing to worry about. Sure, they can be itchy and painful, but they usually go away on their own or with a simple topical treatment.

Once in a while, however, our casual attitude toward bug bites causes us to overlook a serious — even life-threatening — condition. After returning from vacation, one mother assumed that her daughter had a simple bug bite… but it soon turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.

Hayley Williams, 25, of Binghampton, England, grew concerned when her 3-year-old daughter, Connie, wasn’t healing from a bug bite she received during their family vacation to Ibiza.

“It wasn’t until the next morning when I saw it go black that I thought it wasn’t quite right,” Hayley said. After a blood test, the horrible truth was revealed: her body reacted unusually to the bug bite because she had leukemia.