Woman saves baby's life — by e-mail

To be honest, I would've taken one look at that e-mail and been ARRGGH DEMON BABY OMG.

Well, okay, not quite, but unless the mom had some photoshop skills, I would have expressed some concern. That is freaky! Glad baby Rowan will be fine...with all but one left eye.

Gloucoma shows up in pictures as "white" eye instead of "red" eye in children, Something to keep in mind.

I'd be wondering why the mom of the baby in question didn't notice the white spot when it 1st appeared & brought the baby to a Dr. right away.

I have to agree, as a father if one of my childen had an eye that looked like that, I certainly wouldn't need an email from someone for me to have a Dr. look at it...puzzling at best.

It only looked strange in the photo because of the reflection

My niece was diagnosed with retnoblastoma, and lost her eye she was 13 months old at the time. She is doing great, and was treated at MD Anderson, and her follow ups at Dallas Childrens hospital. As for the mother not noticing it, that is very common, the light has to hit just right in order for you to notice it, most people when taking pictures see red eyes, but if you ever take a picture of your baby and notice the white PLEASE take your child to an eye doctor. This cancer is very rare and not many people out there know about it. Im thankful that this is getting the coverage that it deserves. I hope her operation is succesful, and hope her treatments go well.

There is a treatment/procedure where the little girl doesn't have to lose her eye.

how come the child's doctor did not see this in the one year check up? the many other times the baby would need shot and evaluations?? it is strange that a professional does not see this and a non professional sees it in a email...might be a good idea for each ped to take digital photos and look into the eyes with technology and do their evaluations if they cannot see it other wise. that is scary to see how long this could have gone undiagnosed and would have spread to the other eye...the mom also needs to know her other offspring will have to be checked the first 5 years as there will be a chance they to will have same condition.

Treatment depends on how big the tumor is.

My son was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma when he was 7 month old and had his eye enucleated 3 weeks later. What you have to understand is that not ALL pictures show the tumor, we only saw the leucocoria when the lights were low. Even then, we had pictures of our daughter that showed a leucocoria and her eye's are perfect.
Having been in the same situation, I certainly can't blame Rowan's mom for not running straight to the doctor, if you called the pediatrician every time you saw something or thought something was wrong, you might as well camp out at the office.

Lions Clubs International has a program called Cubsight that screens young children for eye problems such as retinoblastoma. We do this by taking pictures of a child's eyes that are screened by doctors working with the program. The detection and successful treatment rates are quite high. The pictures are taken at day cares with the permission of the parents. There is no cost for the screening and it's well worth the time to have it done. Contact a local Lions Club and see if they are doing it and where.

Another program is InfantSee. They provide a comprehensive infant eye assessment within the first year of life and is also cost free.

Wow, really cool story. Thank goodness for Maddie!

This is truly an amazing story. Yes, I too would have maybe thought it was just "redeye" from the flash of the camera. What a smart lady, and thank God she saw what it really was. God Bless! It looks like Doctors could have seen it by looking in the baby's eye's with their special lights, etc., during a normal check-up.

My son was diagnosed with Bilateral Retinoblastoma, he had tumors in both of his eyes but thank god we caught it early and he has been cancer free since January of this year and still has both of his eyes. He does however have major sight loss with only 10% of vision in his bad eye and 75% in his better eye. Thank god there are people out there who notice when things are not right.

It doesn't really matter how big the tumor is, my son only had a 5% chance of keeping his right eye and with chemo and laser surgery he fought those odds

This is a remarkable story! What a blessing that those two moms met via the internet. We just never know what "angel" is around us at any given time, to make our lives easier, safer, happier. In the whole scheme of things here on this earth, how many times do each of us have "feelings" to do or say something and we let it pass and don't act on it? Then later, we find that things would have been better, had we paid attention, like Maddie did. Bless her heart. Yes, she is a hero.
There seems to be a long road ahead of this family and that darling little girl. However, she will be ok later.
Thanks for sharing this story.

This was a great story! I guess I'd like to make the point that retinoblastoma is not the only disease where a cloudy eye is the symptom. I wish they had also mentioned pediatric glaucoma. My daughter was diagnosed at 6 months after I noticed one of her eyes clouded over (was visible to the naked eye, not just in photos). While certainly not as serious as retinoblastoma, and definitely not life-threatening, glaucoma, if left unchecked, can cause permanent vision loss.
This shows that parents (and friends in this case) are the best advocates for our young children! Congrats to Maddie and good luck to baby Rowan!

Talk about fate. Those 2 women became friends for this exact reason. Had they never kept in touch, who knows what the outcome would have been. What a wonderful story with a happy ending!!!

My daughter was diagnosed at 18 months old with retinoblastoma and had her left eye removed. Fortunately, they were able to remove all of the cancer when they removed the eye so we have had no other treatments, only checks on the right eye every 3 months til the age of 5, 6 months til the age of 10 and now only once a year. She is now a healthy happy 16 year old, #1 in her sophomore class, and a pretty decent softball player. My prayers are with this Mom since I know what she is going through and I wish for her the same happy ending for her daughter that I have with mine.

I too have enjoyed this story and it's miraculous result. But being a 62 year old grandfather I have a view point that may be unique. It seems to me that a new young mother has an unexplained change in her. They have a switch that turns on inside that makes them have an immense desire for the protection of the young. Of course everyone loves babies and to hold them close, but mothers instinctively protects them to the very end. And it doesn't have to be their own, as in Maddie's case. This is why she went the extra mile to research it. Unfortunately there are exceptions, but I wish to believe that this is an instinct in all young mothers. Now before the Dads out there get on my case, a father has their own feeling of protection and providing. But it can't hold a candle to the mothers. God bless motherhood.

Retinoblastoma occurred in 1 in 125,000 children under 3 years old when my child was diagnosed 31 years ago. At a 9-month well-baby check up my pediatrician noticed a strange 'reflection' when he flashed a light in my baby's eyes; my husband and I had noticed that when we sat our baby at 3 months of age on the sink in his infant seat, the reflection from the hanging light fixture caused his left eye to look yellow, like a cat's eye in the dark. The doctor referred us to an opthamologist who diagnosed my son immediately, and sent us to a surgeon the next day who confirmed the diagnosis and removed the eye. There had been small tumors in the left eye also that we were able to keep in check through radiation for a year until he finally lost that eye to runaway tumors the next year.

Very perceptive of the friend who spotted the tumor and acted on it. At 31 years of age, my son is a fabulous young man living an independent life and loving it. I can't help but wish we had acted on the 'strange reflection' earlier, though we have been assured countless times that it was so advanced it would have made no difference. I live by my own advice now: If it looks strange, check it out to be sure it's normal.

I honestly wish that the world was filled with more thoughtful people like this.

Simply Amazing!!!

If possible, I would like someone at St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, to look at little Rowan for another opinion. Your doctor should be able to help you with information. I am a faithful supporter of the hospital and hear about good results with retinoblastoma. Good luck and I will keep you in my prayers.

As a 26 year old retinoblastoma survivor I was thrilled to see that at least someone noticed it when they did! People are commenting on why the mother did not see it, but this type of tumor is not visible in every picture or in every light; plus the tumor can grow at a vary rapid pace.

I have full faith that she will be more than just fine with one right eye! I too only have one right eye and I've fared more than just fine over the last 24 years. Although I do consider myself lucky to have only had my right eye removed and did not have to undergo chemo or radiation treatments.

I have full faith that this little girl will live a healthy active life. I never missed a beat or was hindered(dancing, swimming, college, dating, horse back riding, you name it) by having one eye, it's amazing how the body compensates for loss, I wish baby Rowan the best!