What Maya's Retinoblastoma Looked Like

I've been spending time lately looking through our family pictures in an attempt to get started on various Christmas projects (anyone who knows me knows how I like to get started early!). Going through the albums this year has been a particularly emotional after everything our Maya has been through. Up until now, I had only found 1 picture, out of the hundreds we have, where we could see her tumor. Yesterday, I found two more that show us that tiny, little white reflection that prompted Robbie and I to take Maya to the optometrist. I am sharing these three pictures with you today, in an effort to help people see what retinoblastoma can look like. Although all cases are different, seeing an example may help parents discover the signs early on so that treatment can begin as early on in the disease as possible.

In this first picture, Maya has red-eye in only the left eye. Her right eye has none. The reason for this is when a picture is taken, the flash goes into the eye, reflects off the back of it and back out. The light coming back is red. However, when there is a tumor, the light reflects off the tumor and gives off a white light. This is why many retinoblastoma cases are first noticed through pictures taken of children as opposed to in person.




In this second picture, you can see the tiny, white reflection that we first noticed back in October of 2010.

This third picture show that same white reflection from a closer angle.

I hope that these pictures can help people understand what it is that we saw and can help people be aware of the signs. Seeing as this is a very quickly growing cancer, time is of the essence. Although this type of cancer is very rare, it is important that people be made aware of its existence.