A toddler's worried parents were warned to expect the worst when their two-year-old went to hospital for checks after fits of breathlessness and wheezing.
And doctors only increased their fears when they thought a lump in little Ewan Delap's throat was a cancerous tumour.
But his mum and dad, Helen and James, breathed an enormous sigh of relief when the lump turned out to be a PEANUT.
The rogue nut had apparently lodged in Ewan's throat months earlier and tissue grew over it to give the appearance of a tumour.
Helen told her local paper: "When we saw the consultant he said small children pick things up and inhale them and that night they put a camera down his airway.
"They came back to say they had found a tumour. It was horrific."
Ewan had a CT scan at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital and then a biopsy on the 'tumour'.
Helen, 33, of Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, told of her joy when Ewan's doctor returned after the biopsy to break the good news.
Council worker Helen joked: "I could have kissed the consultant. We have never fed him nuts, so have no idea where it came from."
Ewan needed antibiotics and steroids but is now fully recovered after his scare last month.
Dr Chris O'Brien, who treated Ewan, said: "It was very unusual for tissue to completely encapsulate the peanut, that's why we thought it was a tumour.
"Fortunately it all turned out OK."