SMILING and running, this two-year-old looks a picture of health, writes Michael Race.

But Olivia Steele-Smith has already battled through surgery and draining chemotherapy in her short life after being one of the youngest people to get ovarian cancer.

The youngster from Culham was diagnosed with cancer at just six months after her mother Jessica Steele-Smith and father Jake realised something was not right with their only child.

The diagnosis came on February 11, 2013, and Olivia was operated on three days later at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

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After months of chemotherapy, the youngster has made a full recovery and her mum said she was now just like any normal little girl enjoying being at nursery.

Mrs Steele-Smith, 26, added: “She is a happy and cheeky nearly three-year-old girl. You would have never known anything was wrong.

“She has a scar from the operation but she is absolutely fine. She is very popular and chatty. You can have a full blown conversation with her.

“I cannot thank the hospital enough, and the staff. They were absolutely brilliant. We still pop in to see them.”

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Olivia with mum Jess Steele-Smith, dad Jake Smith and Belle the dog

Mrs Steele-Smith said when Olivia was newborn she had a swollen stomach so she took her to the doctors, where the baby was diagnosed with constipation.

But in December she saw blood in a nappy, rushed Olivia to A&E and the cancer was found.

She added: “She was four months and was quite big and her tummy was swollen.

“She couldn’t keep her milk down. The doctors kept thinking I was mad but when I noticed blood I took her to A&E.

“They did an X-ray but could not see anything, then they did an ultrasound scan and found a 10cm tumour and about two litres of fluid.

“I was speechless. I didn’t know what to do. I did not expect it. I was crying with my husband.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen. It was awful.”

Four days later, Olivia was operated on for three hours and had the whole tumour removed.

Following the surgery, she needed weeks of chemotherapy during which her immune system reached dangerously low levels.

Mrs Steele-Smith added: “The tumour was at stage one so it was caught early.

“But afterwards we had to be so careful through the chemotherapy. Every three weeks she needed five days of chemo. We just had to try to be positive and it’s worked. She is in complete remission.”