Many families tell of delayed pathways to care when their child is diagnosed with eye cancer. Orthoptist and retinoblastoma care coordinator, Sandra Staffieri, and leukocoria awareness advocate, Megan Webber, are frustrated by the repeated stories and their negative patient impacts. They explore why these delays continue, some efforts to overcome the challenges, and where they find hope for the future.
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. For Retinoblastoma Awareness Week 2022, Rb Care Coordinator Sandra Staffieri explores the signs and symptoms that may lead to a diagnosis of childhood eye cancer.
Strabismus (turned eye) and leukocoria (white pupil), the most common signs of retinoblastoma, can also occur in healthy eyes. Sandra Staffieri, Retinoblastoma Care Co-ordinator at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, examines both and answers the key question – when should parents and doctors be concerned?
When Sandra Staffieri left Australia in August 2012 for a conference in Italy and a tour of retinoblastoma centres in North America, she had no idea how radically the journey would change her life and care at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. Yet as she departed, the key destination was not even on her itinerary…
