When a mother posted a photo of her baby online, a friend spotted a worrying reflection in her eye August 28, 2008, when 32 yearold Megan Santos of Riverview, Florida, noticed that one of her baby daughter’s eyes was a slightly different color than the other the other. Her intuition told her that something was wrong concerned, Santos posted a picture of one yearold Rowan Santos on the online pregnancy community BabyFit. Com, of which she’s a member. The picture clearly showed a hazy white glow in Rowan’s left eye and atypical reflection of the camera flash not seen in the infant’s other eye.
Now back to the story. She soon received a message from Madeleine Rob, another 32 year old mother living in Stratford, the United Kingdom, encouraging her to ask her doctor about a rare but serious cancer that can bring about such a color difference. Santos followed Rob’s advice, and as it turned out, Santos’s post may have well saved her child’s life. After I put the picture up, she saw it, and she sent me a private email in which she said that Rowan might have written a blast domain in her left eye, Santos said.
She said, not to worry you, but I think you should look at this website.
The website detailed a condition known as retinoblastoma, a potentially deadly form of childhood cancer that can affect one or both eyes. Immediately, Santos contacted her doctor. She saw him the next day on the morning of August 8, and he in turn refer to ophthalmology and cancer specialists. A battery of scans and other tests revealed that Rowan did in fact have a cancerous tumor growing on the retina of her left eye. Her prognosis is good as far as the doctor can tell, Santos said.
The cancer hadn’t yet reached her optic nerve, which would have then directly brought it to her brain. But with a favorable prognosis for survival came devastating news. She’s going to lose her eye, Santos, and that’s a definite doctors plan to treat the tumor by burning away the cancerous tissue with a laser. Rowan will undergo four rounds of chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove her eye in the tumor and then three more rounds of chemotherapy. The surgery will remove Roen’s left eye in November December.
Still, Santos is thankful that the cancer was detected early enough to save her daughter’s life. An ophthalmic expert said that her quick action was crucial in ensuring her daughter’s survival. She probably saved her child’s life, said Dr. Susan TAOB, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Northwestern University in Chicago. An ounce of cautions worth a pound of Cure nest Tumor kills Children Retinoblastoma is a cancer that strikes children as late as age five, though, may start even in the womb.
It arises from the cells of the retina and the spot of nerves at the back of the eye that captures light and sends vision signals to the brain. Dr. Lynn Murphy, director of ocular oncology at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Retinablastoma Center, said the cancer is an exceedingly rare one, affecting only one in about 150 babies. Every year. There are probably only 300 new cases a year in all North America, Murphy said.
But while the disease is rare, it is also ruthless. Worldwide, 87% of children stricken with retinoblastoma die survival is best in developed countries. But even among the children who have the disease in these nations, 97% suffer moderate to severe visual impairment. As a result, most of these cases involve the removal of one eye, at least, Murphy noted. Obviously for young parents who face a diagnosis of cancer in their child that is both lifethreatening and vision threatening is very difficult.
The other characteristic of the cancer that makes it so dangerous is the fact that it’s very difficult to detect. Santos, like most other parents, had taken her baby girl to all of her recommended checkups, the most recent at nine months. While the cancer was most likely present in Rowan’s eye at this time, even the pediatrician missed it. Murphy said that the test that would best reveal whether or not a child indeed had retinoblastoma would involve dilating the eye with eye drops, a test that’s not currently a standard practice among pediatricians.
Years ago, Murphy spearheaded an effort to make these tests routine.
But because the disease is so rare, most doctors remain opposed. The problem is that pediatricians will see one case of retinoplastoma in 30 years of practice, he said. You’d have to do the test in 150 healthy babies before you find it in one. But as in the case of Rowan Santos, another means to detect signs of retinoblastoma and other eye problems in infants may be as close as the family camera. The red eye look that the public dislikes is the telltale sign of a healthy eye, Tab said.
The lack of it is the clue something’s wrong. In fact, Tab said that she and her fellow ophthalmologists regularly ask families to bring in photos. We call it Fat Family Album Tomography. The flash camera can be used usefully for a home diagnosis of infinite child problems. At Seattle ophthalmologist Dr.
Richard Bensinger. If in a series of photos, the same eye always is red and the other dark for your child, then the dark eye may be always turned away from the central axis and might be cross. Bensinger said. This could be due to ordinary misalignment, which can be fixed or due to something inside the eyeblocking. Normal vision, such as a tumor, cataracter or other internal obstruction which needs attention right away.
Vigilance is especially important for appearance with a family history of the disease. Those of the family history should be very alert, said Dr. Harry Quigley, director of the Dana Center for Preventative Ophthalmology at the John Hopkins University’s Wilmer Institute in Baltimore. An eye deviating to the side compared to the other eye after age three or four months should be examined by an ophthalmologist quickly added that infants who rub their eyes regularly or have severe redness in their eyes should also be checked out. But for Santos, one of the most important steps turned out to be sharing her concerns in a supportive online community.
Phone messages left with Rob were not immediately returned. But Santos said that the UK mother continues to offer support as Rowan, who turned one on August 20, faces the months of treatment ahead. I love her, Sando said of Rom. She was very brave to send the email she did because cancer is a very scary thing to have to tell someone about. She’s an amazing woman.
I’ll always be grateful to her, and my family will always be grateful.