Angels and Zebras: How Life-Saving Holiday Pics Reveal Children’s Rare Eye Cancer
Monday December 23, 2024
Happy Holidays from World Eye Cancer Hope!
We love a white Christmas and the season’s festive glow – angels, fairy lights, iced cakes, candles, and snow… But we do not like a white glow in children’s eyes. Rb Survivor and WE C Hope CEO Abby White explains how festive Holiday photos could save a child’s life, and even their sight.
A Christmas Eve Lifesaver
Aidan’s Story – Australia
In Australia, Christmas Eve 2008, Tim relaxed with the newspaper while his wife, Deb, wrapped gifts. He read an article about a child with a white eye glow that turned out to be cancer. Curious, he flicked through recent photos of his son, Aidan, who had celebrated his third birthday just two weeks before.
Tim and Deb were alarmed to find similar glow photos. Despite the holiday, they contacted a local optometrist, who agreed to see Aidan immediately. Within hours of that appointment, Aidan was having more tests with an ophthalmologist, where he was diagnosed with a large tumour in his left eye.
That Christmas Eve news story, Tim’s curiosity and prompt action, and the optometrist’s swift referral saved Aidan’s life.
Red and White
Rudolph’s glowing red nose guides Santa’s sleigh, and red eye glow shows that children’s eyes are healthy. This colourful reflection we see through the expanded pupil is simply the pigmented layer of cells and blood vessels supporting the retina.
In darker eyes, the “red” reflex varies in colour, including orange, yellow, cream, or even blue. Because the reflex isn’t red in non-white babies, it’s increasingly called the “fundal (red) reflex”; a more inclusive and anatomically correct term.
A white eye reflection in photographs or dim light, or naturally absent fundal reflex in flash photos may be a sign of serious eye disease, including retinoblastoma.
Please turn off Red Eye Reduction / Correction for some of your Holiday season photos – give your camera the power to examine your child’s eyes! This could save their life and sight!
Here’s how to take photos to check for white pupil.
When children are very young or the cancer is advanced, the glow can be seen with the naked eye. It will appear fleetingly, and the person who observes it may question whether they imagined what they saw. It is very helpful in this situation to take photos using the PhotoRED technique to check for a white pupil glow, and it is important to seek a prompt eye exam.
A Chinese New Year Celebration
Lele’s Story – China
Lele was 20 months old when his mother noticed a glow in his right eye, in the dim light of Chinese New Year celebrations. Her husband didn’t think it serious, but memories of a weepy eye a year earlier prompted an eye exam. Keen observation, instinct, and that Chinese New Year celebration saved Lele’s life.
See the Light and Rule Out Rare First
More children are diagnosed with eye cancer in the darkest months of the year – December to March in the northern hemisphere.
Dark days, long nights, festive lights and candles create ideal conditions for the pupil to naturally dilate, revealing the warning white glow in a child’s eyes.
Popular advice in medicine states: “when you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras”. This phrase implies that rare diagnoses are unlikely, and the practitioner would be wise to focus on the most common explanations first.
However, because childhood eye cancer is highly aggressive, threatens both life and sight, looking for zebras first is always best when a child has signs that could be retinoblastoma.
Prompt investigation of signs and symptoms is vital to diagnose retinoblastoma early. Timely diagnosis provides the best opportunity to save a child’s life and sight.
Be observant, and check your holiday photos carefully. Request a prompt eye exam for your child if:
- You see the glow – even for a moment with your own eyes.
- You don’t see normal fundal (red) reflex in both eyes in flash photos when red-eye reduction is turned OFF.
- The eyes don’t track together.
- The irises are different colours.
- You have any other concerns about the appearance of either eye.
Find out more about the common and not-so-common signs and symptoms of childhood eye cancer
Capture the Glow
Jordan’s Story – USA
Jordan’s eye cancer was diagnosed thanks to happy family photos taken as as she unwrapped gifts on Christmas morning. Her parents had turned down the room’s main lights to capture the sparkle of the tree’s fairy lights around their delighted little girl. They had no idea that decision, and their keen observation when reviewing the photos, would save her life.
Back to the Heart of the Pacific
Sera’s Story – Fiji
When Sera was two-and-a-half years old, her parents began to notice a concerning white glow in both her eyes. They had never seen this strange phenomenon in her older siblings.
On Christmas Eve 2005, Sera had a red reflex eye exam at an optician close to her family’s home in Fiji. The optician immediately detected a potentially serious white reflex in her left eye and urgently referred her to an ophthalmologist for an exam the same day.
Several hours later, Sera was diagnosed with cancer in both eyes; the first child in Fiji with bilateral retinoblastoma for 10 years. Removal of both her eyes was the only curative treatment available. The news was doubly devastating as the community around her family celebrated Christmas, oblivious to the family’s trauma.
So began a momentous journey to save Sera’s life and some of her sight that would ultimately span the world and turn WE C Hope’s gaze to the heart of the Pacific.
A Holiday Message from World Eye Cancer Hope
As you celebrate this season, and capture its light,
Remember to check all children’s photos capture “red eye”, not white!
Spark Hope: Help Shine the ArcLight to Save a Child’s Life
Early diagnosis is the best cure!
At the 7th One Rb World conference held in October, many of our speakers highlighted how most of the world’s children struggle to access primary eye care, and how early detection is vital to save children’s lives.
We aim to provide 500 Arclight ophthalmoscopes across nine low and middle income countries in 2025, and low resource communities in the USA. Please join us in making this possible!
Donate today to equip healthcare workers with life-saving Arclight devices.
Each $25, $50, or $75 gift funds a high-tech solar powered Arclight ophthalmoscope, and training to examine children’s eyes and detect eye cancer early.
Throughout this Holiday giving season, please help us bring the life-saving gift of early detection to children in some of the world’s poorest countries and communities. Together we can save more precious young lives and families. Thank you very much!
About the Author
Abby’s father was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma in Kenya in 1946. Abby was also born with cancer in both eyes. She has an artificial eye and limited vision in her left eye that is now failing due to late effects of radiotherapy in infancy.
Abby studied geography at university, with emphasis on development in sub-Saharan Africa. She co-founded WE C Hope with Brenda Gallie, responding to the needs of one child and the desire to help many in developing countries. After receiving many requests for help from American families and adult survivors, she co-founded the US chapter to bring hope and encourage action across the country.
Abby enjoys listening to audio books, creative writing, open water swimming and long country walks.
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