ABERDEEN, Scotland — Kirstin Smith noticed something peculiar while watching her three-year-old son, Cian, play with his toys. When the TV glare reflected in his eyes, she could see a “cloudy spot” with a “white glow.” Concerned, she immediately consulted her neighbor, a general practitioner, who advised her to have Cian’s eyes examined by an optometrist. This observation, occurring just weeks before Christmas, would change the family’s lives forever.
After taking Cian to the eye clinic at the Royal Aberdeen Infirmary in Scotland, where doctors detected a mass in his eye. Cian was then referred to a local hospital, where medical professionals suspected he had retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer typically found in young children.
In December 2022, Cian’s diagnosis was confirmed, and he was transferred 681 miles away to the Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital, the nearest facility equipped to treat his type of cancer. Cian began chemotherapy three days before Christmas and has had to make the long travel to the hospital 16 times for his treatment.
“Cian was sat in the corner of the room, playing with his toys, he glanced at the TV, and I noticed the white glow in his eye. It was only for a split second of clouded grey, and I did a double take, and it had gone. His tumor was stage D – it was a large tumor – and if we didn’t spot it when we did, we might not have the same outcome,” says Kirstin, an additional support needs teacher from Scotland, in an online video post.
“He is very resilient. He will be impaired due to the damage the tumor did to his eye, but we are not at the end of our journey yet, so things could change. We are not sure what the future looks like just yet.”
After noticing the white glow, Kirstin sought her GP neighbor’s opinion.
“I knew that I could see the cloud. I sent the pictures to my neighbor, and she said if I was concerned, I should go see an optician. We were then referred to the Royal Aberdeen Infirmary, where they confirmed that Cian had a mass on his eye. They then referred to Royal Aberdeen Children Hospital, who couldn’t confirm the diagnosis, so they sent us to Birmingham.”
Cian started his first round of chemotherapy on Dec. 22, 2022, and has undergone three more since.
“Due to my initial thought being that it was something sinister, I was prepared for the news. It was my initial fear, and when I took him to the opticians – I said I thought it was cancer. There was a part of me that hoped it would be something less serious, we were devastated by the diagnosis, but it wasn’t a shock,” Cian’s mother says in her video.
Following months of chemotherapy, which successfully shrank the tumor, Cian began cryotherapy to further reduce its size.
“The chemo was really affecting him, it did manage to shrink the tumor, but it was a real hard slog. The good thing about this type of chemo is that it is targeted. He wasn’t unwell – it was just a difficult day, and the next day it would be like it never happened. Life was relatively normal between chemo sessions,” Kirstin says.
Cian continues to receive treatment to keep his cancer in check, and Kirstin remains optimistic.
“He is a standard two-year-old – you would never know he is dealing with this. He is a little character, he has just turned two. He is very chatting and learning to speak. He is a bit unsure about new people, but we don’t know if that is a side effect of all the hospital treatment. You think about his life experience so far compared to his sister or his peers, and it feels like he is really unlucky. When we are away, and we are among the other retinoblastoma families, we are so lucky compared to them and what they are dealing with – we are very grateful.”
The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) encourages parents and healthcare professionals to be vigilant for common symptoms of eye cancer, such as a white glow in the eye under flash photography or certain lighting conditions, and a squint. Changes in the eye’s appearance or swelling may also indicate cancer, though often only one symptom is present.
“Retinoblastoma is rare, with around one baby or young child being diagnosed in the UK each week. 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,” says Richard Ashton, chief executive of CHECT, in a statement to SWNS.
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South West News Service writer Ben Barry contributed to this report.
