Earlier this year, Tiffany and Albree Shaffer were dealt the shattering news that their 18-month-old, Callie, girl had advanced neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma develops in the nerve tissue and is the third most common cancer in young children.

At the time of diagnosis, the cancer was already at stage four and would require aggressive treatment – at least 18 months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Facing a long road ahead, a family member of the couple, from Cincinnati, Ohio, set up a GoFundMe page to assist with the cost of medical bills.

They wrote: "She will need 18 months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, she will need a bone marrow transplant, and also will need future surgery to remove the tumor once it shrinks.

"What I am asking is for you to help me take the financial burden off of these wonderful people."

It did not take long for people to rally and dig deep.

Unfortunately, not all the responses were of a heartening nature.

After an outpouring of support, Tiffany and Albree received a Facebook message from a lady by the name of Bren Marie,

She had written: "My prayers for Callie. I was going to donate $7,600.00 to her fund but I found out her parents are lesbian.

"I've chosen to donate to St Jude due to that fact. Sorry. I'll still pray for her though but maybe it's God's way of getting your attention that she needs a mommy and a daddy, not 2 mommy's [sic]."

Albree and Tiffany decided to not respond the lady, who has since deleted her account, and admitted they were shaken and distressed.

"We tried not to be upset, but it was hard," they said.

"I couldn't believe she reached out to us to tell us that directly. She could have just not donated and ignored the page."

One positive to emerge from this is others have been spurred on by Callie's battle to donate.

Linda and Carol Davis-Wolther wrote on the GoFundMe page:

"My wife and I are donating a bit to chip away at replacing that undelivered donation.

"We two lesbians have had several children, and know the discrimination that still exists. We will also pray for Callie and her moms.

A lady called Sandra added:

"God works in mysterious ways. Thank goodness for the bigotry, without it I probably wouldn't have known about your story and it inspired me to donate.

"Beautiful little girl, our love and prayers go out to your whole family."

At the time of writing, the GoFundMe page had already raised over £64,000.

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