MONTREAL -- Leroy Fournier is one little boy, who is living proof of what medical advances can do.

The first two years of his life have been a struggle.

During a routine ultrasound, his parents discovered their unborn son had a large benign tumour on his spine and abdomen.

"As soon as they walked in the door I knew something was wrong, and they told me and it was breaking, it just was crushing," said Leroy's father James Fournier.

"We’d had a completely uneventful pregnancy up until that point. We had thought everything was great," said his mother Rachel Cogdell.

Two weeks later, Cogdell had an emergency C-section and Leroy came into the world two months premature and underwent major surgery at the Children's.

"The first surgery was the worst because it was supposed to be a four-hour surgery and it ended up being a 10-hour surgery because it was much more complicated than they had expected," said Cogdell.

The uncommon tumour meant Leroy required additional surgeries in the coming months.

"So this is, I think, one of four or five cases I’ve done here in the last 13 years," said director of pediatric surgery Dr. Sherif Emil. "They’re very very rare."

Leroy had additional surgery because his skull fused together too early, and at three weeks old, he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

"We were able to get him on a modulator that helps improve the function of the gene that doesn't work in CF," said director of respiratory medicine Dr. Larry Lands.

Leroy was also admitted to the PICU when he was a year old when he went into septic shock and had to be intubated and he suffered a stroke.

His mother now helps him through daily rehab that includes physio and speech therapy.

"It’s overwhelming. It takes up every minute of my day. It’s worth every minute of it though," said Co gdell.

His parents are grateful to have the Children's in their lives and the work its staff has done in getting their son this far.

"I have driven past the hospital during a workday and wanted to go in just for a cup of coffee," said Leroy's father. "Obviously, you can’t because of the pandemic but have felt this desire to go in because that’s become the safe place, the comfort place."

His doctors are impressed by the strength of a boy so young.

"He’s beaten so many odds," said Emil. "He will never be a statistic he will never be a number. He will be Leroy. I’m rooting for him. I think he will do well but it’s still going to be a struggle it will never be easy."

Today, Leroy's likes include Sesame Street and playing on the swing, something he did for the first time just a few weeks ago.

"We want him to live a full happy long healthy life and to just enjoy everything that’s out there not miss out on a thing," said Cogdell.