Dressed in a grey T-shirt and bright red sneakers, the Wodonga boy walked down the hall of the Royal Children’s Hospital’s oncology ward to a sea of colourful pompoms and loud cheers.

After high-fiving his family and friends, Isaac passionately rang the big, golden bell.

He was cancer-free.

With a grin on his face, Isaac hugged his father Steven then his mother Julia.

“Thank you so much,” Steven said to the hospital staff.

“You gave the boy back to us. He is now looking forward to a very good life.”

Isaac celebrated his two milestones with double the amount of sweets.

“Cancer out! Birthday in!” and “That bell had it coming” were written on top of two cakes in blue icing.

Isaac spent about 180 days at The Royal Children’s after he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive type of cancer called Burkitt’s cell leukaemia in June last year.

Julia said she knew something was wrong with her son weeks before they received the diagnosis.

“It was a mother’s instinct,” she said. “We kept taking Isaac back to the doctors … twice or three times to the urgent care clinic and twice to Wodonga Hospital then a couple of times to the GP.

“If it wasn’t for Steve chasing the doctor and basically nearly kicking the door down, [the cancer] would not have been picked up,” she said.