Nursery World - A Unique Child: Eye Cancer

Eye cancer in young children is rare, but early diagnosis of retinoblastoma could save both sight and lives, says Julie Firth.

Carol Rogers had been Andreas Holm's childminder for two years when she first spotted something wrong with his eye. 'About a week before Andreas's third birthday, I noticed something odd and mentioned it to my husband,' she says.

'A week later I again thought something looked wrong, so I wrote it in my daily diary for Andreas's mum, Maria, to see. When we talked about it, Maria revealed she had also seen something but wasn't sure whether it was just an unusual reflection of the light on his eye.'

After hearing Carol's concerns, Maria took Andreas to his GP, who referred him to hospital. Unfortunately, the appointment was delayed and it was three months before Andreas was seen by an ophthalmologist. From there Andreas was sent immediately to the specialist unit at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, where he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that mainly affects under-fives.

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