I’m devastated after my baby daughter lost an eye following a doctor’s blunder
A BABY girl had to have her eye removed after being diagnosed with cancer - but doctors initially thought she had eczema.
Mum Katherine O'Neill has been left heartbroken by the mix-up and her "wonderful" daughter Amelia's subsequent sight loss.
The 42-year-old said: "I was devastated.
"It felt so surreal and I couldn't believe what I had been told."
Katherine noticed her tot was rubbing her left eye more than normal shortly after she was born in September 2020.
But Amelia passed her sight check and the parent was advised that the redness was likely caused by eczema - a common, and often harmless, skin condition.
READ MORE ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH
However, the problem persisted for several months, and one day during dinner in March 2021, the youngster's grandma spotted the little one's eye looked different to normal.
Katherine said: "Amelia was in her highchair when my mum said, 'What's wrong with Amelia's eye?'.
"I hadn't noticed anything about the actual eye before, but under the spotlights in the kitchen, you could see that it was protruding and looked kind of dead."
Katherine called the GP the next morning and was told her daughter could have a cataract or retinoblastoma - a rare form of eye cancer.
Most read in Health
A week later, the family were seen at Manchester Children's Hospital, where Amelia was diagnosed with a Grade E tumour in her left eye.
The toddler then had six rounds of chemotherapy.
Katherine, a full-time mum from Winsford, Cheshire, said: "I slept in the bed next to her.
"She was hooked up with wires and it was awful to watch knowing how poorly it would make her.
"The next morning, she looked very pale and as soon as she woke up, she vomited. It made her very sleepy and sick."
After the cancer started to grow back again, Katherine took the difficult decision to have her daughter's eye removed.
The three-hour operation was carried out on December 8, 2021, when Amelia was just one.
"She had been through enough," she said.
"By then, we realised that her eye didn't look like her eye anymore.
"She couldn't see out of it, and at least if she had a prosthetic eye, the cancer would be removed."
I was devastated. It felt so surreal.
Katherine O'Neill
Thankfully, the youngster is now doing "fantastically".
"She is a superstar," Katherine said.
"She has such a wonderful, feisty and kind personality, and she is always keen to try new things and make new friends.
"She loves Peppa Pig, baking with grandma, scooting to the park and helping in the kitchen.
"You really wouldn't notice that she only has sight in one eye."
Retinoblastoma is an eye cancer that begins in the retina which most commonly affects children under the age of six.
According to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT), typical signs include:
- A white glow which may only appear in certain lights
- Squinting
- Changes in the appearance of the eye
- Swelling
- Redness
- Sight deterioration
- Eyes not appearing red in photos
Richard Ashton, chief executive of the charity, said: "Retinoblastoma is rare, with around one baby or young child being diagnosed in the UK each week.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"Symptoms can be quite subtle, and children often seem well in themselves which can make it hard to diagnose.
"In just under half of all cases, a child must have an eye removed as part of their treatment."
