Amelia Cone is heavy on my heart tonight. She is a 6 month old baby girl that will have surgery tomorrow ti remove 2 tumors, 1 from behind each eye. She has retinoblastoma. This is the Mayo Clinic's definition of it:
Retinoblastoma is a cancer that begins in the retina — the sensitive lining on the inside of your eye. Retinoblastoma most commonly affects young children, but can rarely occur in adults. Your retina is comprised of nerve tissue that senses light as it comes through the front of your eye. The retina sends signals through your optic nerve to your brain, where these signals are interpreted as images.
Although a rare form of cancer, retinoblastoma is the most common cancer affecting the eye in children. The National Cancer Institute estimates about 300 children are diagnosed with retinoblastoma each year in the United States.
It's pretty rare, but occurs most often in children under 2. I had never heard of this cancer until a couple of months ago.
One morning out of the blue Jay sent me a link to this article, along with this picture he had taken with his phone of Annalee...
A simple photo can save your child's life
A childhood friend of mine also had this condition, (retinoblastoma), he had lost an eye because it was not caught until it was too late. The condition, although not well publicized, can be detected when one eye has the "red-eye" glare, the other shows white. It usually appears before the age of 3.
FTA:
Nurse Samantha Rouse discovered her nine-month-old son Jacob's eye appeared white in a photo she took of him.
A simple picture may have saved a baby's life after his photo revealed a rare and life threatening tumour behind his eye.
Auxiliary nurse Samantha Rouse discovered her nine-month-old son Jacob's eye appeared white in a photo she took of him.
The glare from the camera revealed light sensitive cells in his eye that could not be seen face-to-face - a sign of the rare eye cancer retinoblastoma, a rapidly-developing cancer that forms in the cells of the retina, the light-detecting tissue in the eye.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247912/Mother-spots-cancer-babys-eye-taking-photo.html#ixzz0ealHfyX5
To say the least, we were freaked out. I was 2 weeks from delivering Ezra, and really couldn't even think about it. But I made an appt with our pedi and took her in a few days later. He looked in her eyes and didn't see anything, but referred us to a specialist just to be on the safe side, since there could have been a small tumor that couldn't be seen without dilating her eyes.
We made thay appt for a week later, and for the first time, I was hoping I would not go into labor a little early this was one appt I did not want to miss.
I'd love to say I didn't worry and fret over it, but I did. I could not imagine my baby girl being sick, and having her eye s operated on, and the horrible possibilities of her losing her eyesight and possibly even death. It was truly more than I could really take in at that point. I would imagine having a newborn and my first baby in the hospital having surgery or chemotherapy...it was a possible nightmare. Jay and I didn't really tell anyone what was going on. Mainly because we didn't want them to worry needlessly, and partly because saying it just made it to real a possibility.
Thankfully we went to the appt and Annalee was given a clean bill of health. Absolutely no tumors! Praise the Lord! I was and am so thankful!
So little Amelia's story has just really hit home, when we could so easily be going down the same road they are right now.
So please pay attention to the pictures you take of your children, and ask your pedi to screen them at the next appt.
