Led By the Children
Our story begins with Daisy, a wonderful young lady from England who battled eye cancer for five years. Daisy required specialist care at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) that was unavailable to her in the UK. Her parents established The Daisy Fund to raise funds for her intensive treatment and the sixteen month stay in Canada.
Seeds of Hope
On September 29, 2004, Abby White, a retinoblastoma survivor and friend of Daisy’s family, received an email from a mother in Africa whose two-year-old daughter had eye cancer. By coincidence, September 29th is also the Feast of St Michael, Patron Saint of Sick Children, often celebrated with wreathes of Michaelmas Daisies.
Gorata (Rati) was diagnosed with a recurrence of retinoblastoma following removal of her eye 19 months before. Such a recurrence is rare in developed countries, but very common in developing countries due to late diagnosis, poor access to expert care and lack of compassionate family support.
Abby began advocating for Rati and her family. Daisy’s parents donated money from The Daisy Fund to enable international travel and initial treatment. Four weeks after Abby received the first email, Rati began intensive therapy at SickKids in Canada.
We established Daisy’s Eye Cancer Fund in England and at SickKids Foundation, to raise funds for Rati’s care. The UK fund achieved official charity registration in September 2005. We rebranded in 2015 to become World Eye Cancer Hope.
Beyond One Child, Sharing Hope For All
Rati responded very well to therapy for a year, but the gift of expert care came to late, and the cancer returned. She died on 21 August, 2006. Multiple opportunities to save her life in Africa were missed, and she challenged us to improve care for children like her who suffer so greatly.
In November 2006, Abby and Rati’s Canadian doctor, Brenda Gallie, flew to Kenya to explore how Daisy Fund might begin to answer Rati’s Challenge. This visit led to the launch of the Kenyan National Retinoblastoma Strategy, a model for effective care of children with eye cancer in developing countries.
Our mission evolved rapidly, as we aspire to preserve life and sight for all children with eye cancer around the world. We pursue this ultimate goal by building sustainable local capacity to deliver the best possible medical and supportive care.
Our strength lies in our unique worldwide collaboration of health care professionals, parents and survivors, scientists and others concerned about retinoblastoma. All our activities are motivated by a desire to promote the complete wellbeing of each child, adult survivor and their family.
While focusing on improving care in Africa, Abby receives many requests for help from around the world, including from the USA. Providing information, advice, advocacy and practical help, Abby became increasingly concerned about the serious challenges many families encounter, and the lack of national effort to improve care.
Recognizing the unique challenges for families affected by retinoblastoma in the USA, and honoring the many stateside supporters of our work, we established Daisy’s Eye Cancer Fund USA in 2012.
In September 2015, Daisy Fund in the UK, Canada and the USA rebranded to become World Eye Cancer Hope (WE C Hope).
Inspired by Rati’s teaching, Daisy’s gift, and the needless suffering endured by so many children like them, we aspire to bring life and sight saving care to every child with eye cancer across the USA and around the world.
Daisy and Rati never met. Yet the twining of their lives created a beautiful planting of seeds that are now blooming into hope for thousands of children, families and adult survivors across Africa.
