If you have children, you may have been tempted to skip one of those well visits to the doctor because everything seems okay, but a Franklin family says don't do it. A routine check up may well have saved their young son's life. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Elliot Biggert is something of a miracle baby. When his parents took him in for his 9 month checkup, doctors found something completely unexpected.

"They immediately sent us over to get an ultrasound," says father Joe Biggert.

That ultrasound revealed a 3lbs. tumor on Elliot's left side.

"She was like there's a 14 centimeter mass on the kidney and a small mass on the other side," says father Joe Biggert.

Further scans revealed a more troubling tumor on Elliot's lung called BB. They caught the lung tumor early and it wasn't malignant, but doctors told the Biggerts, had it gone undetected, the cancer could have changed quickly and spread to Elliot's brain. Mom Ashley shudders when she recalls she almost canceled the appointment.

"Because I was supposed to go out of town," says mom Ashley Biggert. "I was gonna wait a whole month and that tumor could have, both tumors could have grown bigger and who knows what could have happened."

Elliot's tumors are linked to a rare genetic mutation called Dicer 1, but unlike the 350 other children with it being tracked by the National Institutes of Health, only Elliot has had a recurrence of the cysts. He lost one kidney and part of the other in the first round of surgeries at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Now he and his parents are bracing for another kidney surgery.

"His function would be compared to about stage 3 renal disease right now," says father Joe Biggert. "He may be at stage 4 renal disease. You don't get a transplant until stage 5."

The Biggerts are hoping for the best, hoping Elliot will be able to put off a transplant until he's older. On this point they're bullish: that well doctor visit saved their son's life and gave them a fighting chance to meet his health challenges head on. Elliot's next kidney surgery is scheduled for January. Doctors are checking his lungs every few months. So far there are no signs of cancer.
Father Stays Positive About Child's Future After Scary Diagnosis