A toddler's devastating condition was spotted after a mum used a camera flash to take a photo. George Walsh, aged two, was enjoying some time away in Tenerife with his family when his parents, from Warrington, noticed a glare in the toddler's eye - and it was a sign of retinoblastoma,
George's parents decided to get a flight home the next day and went for a referral at the opticians. The toddler was then referred to Birmingham Children's Hospital and it was confirmed George had retinoblastoma. Victoria, from Warrington, shared with ECHO: "We were on holiday and I had been noticing an orange glare in the naked eye, face to face.
"I said to my mum 'I keep seeing this glare in his eye do you think it is anything to worry about?'" My mum said 'it is not white is it?' and I said I didn't know. She said 'take a picture with the flash on'. She only knew this because my auntie's, best friend's niece had retinoblastoma and she lost her eye.
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"That was the only reason she was aware of it, but didn't fully know what to look out for. She knew it was something to do with a photograph. I started taking photographs and they showed white. Then you obviously Google - the worst thing you can do - and the next day my husband saw it while he was travelling down in a lift. He saw a white glare in George's eye."
The parents rang a family friend Jo Baren, who runs Jo Baren Eyewear, for advice. The 32 year old added: "I asked if this was your child or as a friend what would you do? She said 'it could be the time of the essence you need to get home if we think it's what we think it is'." Victoria said: "All within a week we found it and then [George was] diagnosed.
"They were absolutely brilliant, hats off to the NHS." She added: "It was huge shock, scary and you wish it wasn't them. But we were glad we found it and could treat it and hopefully he will be able to keep his eye." The toddler has lost the vision in his eye but doctors are now trying to preserve it.
He has to have laser into his eye every four weeks, which could carry on for two years, and will also need regular scans when he is older to make sure the tumour is not changing or active.
