At just 15 months old Isabelle’s mum, Kellie, took her daughter to the doctor after seeing a white reflection in her eye as she was walking around the house.
“I thought she might have a cataract or something, so I took her to the doctor, and they said they couldn’t see the back of her eye, so we were immediately referred to an ophthalmologist,” Kellie said.
Isabelle was later diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma – an eye cancer that mostly affects young children.
“I had never even heard of it before, and we never really thought it could be something like that. That’s why we believe it is so important to raise awareness as when kids are that young, they can’t tell you that they can’t see.”
Whilst in Hospital, Kellie said “The Children’s Hospital Foundation services were a great distraction from everything that was going on and gave us a minute to be brought back down to earth and enjoy positive moments with Isabelle”.
At three years old, Isabelle lost her left eye to the tumour, but has now been cancer free for the past five years.
Now eight years old, she is doing very well with her prosthetic eye.
Retinoblastoma is the most common eye tumour in children, and in Queensland there are approximately nine new cases per year, with most cases presenting before a child is five or six.
Isabelle and her family, along with a team of doctors and nurses from Queensland Children’s Hospital, are taking part in Bridge to Brisbane this weekend to raise funds for the Foundation. Funds raised at events like this can help purchase essential equipment, like the Optos ultra-wide field retinal imaging device, to help more kids like Isabelle.
They are also using this opportunity to spread awareness on how to ‘Know the Glow’.
Retinoblastoma is a fast-growing eye cancer and is often first detected when someone notices a white/yellow glow in the pupil of the eye in photos taken with a flash. Early diagnosis can save lives so it’s important to ‘Know the Glow’.
The warning signs of retinoblastoma include:
• White pupil or a white reflex in flash photography
• Turned eye
• Larger than usual eye
• Cloudiness or bleeding in the front of the eye
If you would like to support Isabelle and the ‘Know the Glow’ team in Bridge to Brisbane this year you can donate via their fundraising page here.
If you would like to find out more about fundraising for the Foundation, we have lots of information on our fundraising page.
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Through supporting the Children’s Hospital Foundation, you can improve childhoods and ensure all children and young people have access to treatment - sooner.
