We are about to be upon my daughter 1 year anniversary of being diagnosed with Retinoblastoma (cancer of the retina). We had noticed she had a "lazy" eye so we took her to the Dr. We were lucky enough that our NP found something in her eye otherwise we never would have known. We should have taken her to the eye Dr. instead. She was just a little shy of turning 5 months old when we got the news that a tumor had wrapped itself around her optic nerve. To be told that your tiny baby had this tumor in it's eye is the most heartbreaking thing to hear. Our options where systemic chemo, intra-arterial chemo, or enucleation. The tumor had ruined most of her sight and we couldn't put this tiny baby through chemo to save an eye that would never work so we chose to have it taken out. The next week was the hardest week knowing your baby had this cancer in its eye and that she would also be losing an eye!
I would never wish cancer upon anybody. The only good thing about retinoblastoma is that of all the cancer the cure rate if caught early is in the high 90%. That being said one thing I want people to know is that it's never OK for a kid to have WHITE eyes in pictures. You want to have that red eye look, the light bounces off the retina that's why it's red, if it's white you need to get your child into an EYE dr. right away.....not a pediatrician but an eye doctor. They will do an dilated eye exam and make sure things are ok. Also if you see your kids eye being "lazy" bring it up to an eye dr also. Attached is a picture of what the eye looks like. Please turn the red eye reducer off your camera and take a picture in a dark room of your baby.
