Physical Wellness

Camera Flash Exposes Rare Eye Cancer in 4-month-old Baby from Scottsdale

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Jan 31, 2016 02:05 PM EST

Andrea Temarantz was flipping through the old pictures of her 4-month-old baby boy when she noticed something very unusual in all the images, a persistent white glow in her infant's left eye. The first time she saw the glow in her baby Ryder's eye, she dismissed it thinking as a bad camera job. However, when the detail appeared in each photograph, she became concerned. Following her unique discovery, the Scottsdale mother took her 4-month-old son for his checkup and discussed this irregularity with his pediatrician. Within 24-hours, she was asked to contact another doctor to get a closer examination of his eyes, says AZ Central

When Temarantz received the diagnosis on the morning of 6th January, she found that her son has a rare form of eye cancer, retinoblastoma. The soft glow in Ryder's left eye was not a camera flaw but a cancerous tumor. "I certainly did not think it was cancer," she said. "Cancer did not cross my mind." Even though it is the most common type of eye cancer in children, it is only diagnosed about 200-300 patients every year in US, said American Cancer Society, as reported by WGRZ.com

The rumor in Ryder's left eye has not yet spread to other parts of his body, said Dr. David H. Abramson, chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering. "Worldwide, 50 percent of the children who had retinoblastoma last year died," Abramson told ABC News today. "It's one of those cancers that can be fatal if not detected early, so it's great that his mom noticed it early and got it checked out."

Following the diagnosis, Ryder will undergo 3-6 rounds of ophthalmic artery chemosurgery, said Abramson. He also said that there is a 99% chance that Ryder will recover from his disease and will still have some vision in his left eye.

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