Just like Mummy
My little girl developed the same cancer I had
Iwas just 6 weeks old when my parents got the news that I had retinoblastoma in both eyes. It’s a rare form of eye cancer in children. My mum Mandy, now 61, and dad Anthony, 62, were so upset.
It wasn’t a complete shock, though. Dad had the same cancer when he was a toddler. Although having treatment, sadly he lost both eyes and was completely blind.
When he and Mum had me, doctors wanted to run tests to see if I had the condition, too.
I had laser treatment and brachytherapy which involved inserting radioactive plaques over the tumours.
Incredibly, I beat the cancer and my eyesight was OK.
Growing up, I didn’t think about the condition and, in 2002, I met Paul.
Like most couples, we talked about having children – and Mum said I should speak to a doctor to see if our children might suffer from retinoblastoma.
I had tests and the results broke my heart. I had the faulty gene – there was a 50 per cent chance I’d have a baby with the condition. We spoke at length about it, but our desire to be parents was so strong, we decided to try for a baby. When our beautiful Callum was born in September 2008, a sample of his umbilical cord was taken for testing. Three days later, results showed he didn’t have retinoblastoma. Such relief. In October 2009, Paul and I tied the knot. In 2011, I fell pregnant again, and prayed the baby would be OK. After Amelia was born in January 2012, she had the test, but the results weren’t what we’d been hoping for… ‘I’m afraid she’s tested positive,’ a doctor told us. At just 11 days old, she had general anaesthetic so that doctors could look at the tumours in her eyes.
Poor Amelia had got three tumours already. So, with no time to waste, the following month she began chemo.
Every three weeks, for four months, she was back at Great Ormond Street Hospital for another round.
‘What’s wrong with Amelia?’ Callum, then 4, would ask us.
I told him that she had poorly eyes and needed magic medicine.
I was back and forth to the hospital with Amelia and it was so tough.
At the end of her treatment, the tumours had shrunk.
But, within months, checks showed a few more had grown.
Amelia had to undergo laser treatment and a procedure to freeze the tumours.
We were terrified the cancer would steal her eyes.
Luckily, the treatment worked. And, in 2015, she went into remission.
Amelia, now 5, has been clear for two years now.
‘You’re such a superstar!’ I tell her – I’m so proud.
I even nominated her and Callum for a Childhood Eye Cancer Trust award.
And they were given medals by the charity for being so brave and brilliant.
Ameila and I carry the faulty gene, so we’re more susceptible to other cancers, and need screenings and checks.
Retinoblastoma plagued three generations of my family. But we’re fighters.
And we’re never going to let cancer defeat us.
This illness has plagued three generations of my family