Early Diagnosis
Help Shine the ArcLight to Save a Child’s Life
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.
Please help us reach our goal of providing 500 Arclights across nine low and middle income countries in 2025, and low resource communities in the USA.
Read More...
At the 7th One Rb World conference held in October 2024, many of our speakers highlighted how most of the world’s children struggle to access primary eye care, abandoning treatment after delayed diagnosis is the leading cause of death, and early detection is vital to save children’s lives.
Throughout 2024 we focused on early detection as the bedrock of effective care for all children, and our work continues! Please join us in bringing hope to children and families in some of the world’s poorest countries and communities, where early diagnosis can be the difference between life and death. Together we light the way to early detection, life-saving care, and brighter futures for children around the world.
Child Life
Help Families Cope, Heal, and Thrive Through Rb!
Donate today to support child life programs for all, and training in Africa.
Your gift funds child life programs at One Rb World and other family-focused events; and training to bring vital child life services to children and families in low-resource settings across Africa.
Our 2025 Child Life campaign is dedicated to the memory of Lisa Hester, Rb Mom and much-loved WE C Hope USA Director, who died unexpectedly on July 31, 2024.
Please help us empower children and families with effective supports and healthy coping skills as they navigate eye cancer care and life beyond.
Read More...
Retinoblastoma can be a life-altering journey for any child and their family. Cancer treatment is a stressful and potentially traumatic experience that can overwhelm a child’s natural ability to cope. This can delay healing and normal development, with lasting negative effects on physical and mental health.
Treatment requires both killing the cancer or minimizing symptoms, and caring for the child’s complete well-being, to ensure the best possible quality of life. Cure is a hollow victory if the child and their family are unable to emerge from treatment with a positive outlook and joy for their life saved.
Child life empowers families to manage stressful medical experiences, giving them the best possible quality of life during treatment and beyond. Whatever the child’s age or stage of treatment, these supports can transform their immediate experience and lifelong wellbeing.
Prioritizing the whole child alongside their medical care can also directly impact the cost of that care. For example:
- Preparing a child for a scan can eliminate the need for daily anaesthetic.
- Procedure supports can reduce the number of clinicians needed to do the procedure, and increase everyone’s safety.
- Healthy spirits can accelerate recovery and discharge from hospital, even help boost the immune system and blood counts during chemotherapy.
- With greater support, especially when tailored to the Rb experience, families are more likely to consent to and complete life-saving treatment, reducing the risk of relapse and cancer-spread that requires more costly, complex care.
These benefits collectively reduce the toll of stress on the affected child, parents and siblings, and reduce financial burdens.
Many hospitals in high income countries now employ Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) or Hospital Play Specialists/Therapists to support children through procedures and treatment. However, caregivers, medical professionals, and others can use many simple child life approaches to help children through their cancer experience.
Child life is not an optional extra for a child with retinoblastoma – wherever they live. Improving their treatment experience and wellbeing will help them move forward through life as a happy, confident individual.
WE C Hope Child Life Director, Morgan Livingstone CCLS, leads our child life programming at One Rb World and other events, oversees educational content for parents and professionals on our website, and leads the Child Life Kenya Training Program. This is currently Africa’s only training program for child life professionals, established in 2008 as part of WE C Hope’s partnership with the Kenya National Rb Strategy.
Please join us in our mission to expand child life supports for families in our Rb community, and access to sustainable child life services for families across Africa. With your help, we help the whole child and family cope, heal, and thrive.
Morgan Livingstone CCLS discusses child life at the One Retinoblastoma World 2021 Conference, held virtually on October 1, 2021.
Setting up a regular gift is a simple, convenient way to support our vital work and spread your giving throughout the year. Regular gifts help us plan long-term projects and reach more people.
You can give any amount to fit your budget, and donations are processed automatically. Simply select the repeat/regular donation option in the online donation form.
Please set up your Regular Donation today, and share your gift of hope to children with eye cancer, survivors and their families all year round!
Please contact us if you have any queries.
With your gift of hope, we can build life-saving early diagnosis, medical care, and family support.
Retinoblastoma is a highly curable cancer, but it kills thousands of children every year, blinds many more, destroys families and brings life-long challenges to survivors. With your help, we can increase awareness, early detection, and access to medical care and support to bring hope of life and sight to thousands of precious young children, survivors and their families around the world.
Taking Care of Your Gift
We are entirely funded by charitable gifts, and we rely on your generous support to build a better future for children with eye cancer, survivors, and their families. We take great care to apply your donations where they are needed most, to ensure maximum impact from limited funds.
Giving online is quick, easy, secure, and instant. You can also set up a regular gift, and help us year-round to bring hope of life and sight saving care to thousands of children with eye cancer around the world.
Select below to make your donation, or use the links on the left to learn about other ways to give and support our vital work.
Setting up a regular gift is a simple, convenient way to support our vital work and spread your giving throughout the year. Regular gifts help us plan long-term projects and reach more people.
You can give any amount to fit your budget, and donations are processed automatically. Simply select the repeat/regular donation option in the online donation form.
Please set up your Regular Donation today, and share your gift of hope to children with eye cancer, survivors and their families all year round!
Please contact us if you have any queries.
