Aussie baby's eye removed after subtle 'change' reveals shocking diagnosis
Anthony and Alex Burridge had just started navigating life as new parents when they spotted the change in their daughter Harper's eye.
A young couple are heartbroken their newborn daughter had to get her eye removed following a slight change in her pupil.
Anthony and Alex Burridge were just getting used to life as new parents when the dad noticed a change to their then three-month-old Harper's left eye in their home in Ballarat, Victoria. After flagging the issue to his wife, who is a nurse, they rushed Harper to the doctor. It's been a whirlwind journey from there.
"Two weeks ago my husband noticed the pupil colour was just slightly different, and then her pupil size became different a couple of days later," Alex told Yahoo News. "It looked like her healthy eye was like a darker black, and then the other eye was slightly lighter."
After tests were conducted and secondary scans were performed in hospital, Alex was told her daughter "had the same thing she had" — retinoblastoma, a rare type of children's eye cancer.
Retinoblastoma is a rare, genetic condition
Within days of noticing the change in Harper's eye, surgeons told the new parents that a mass had been detected and her eye had to be removed to minimise the chances of it spreading.
"It all happened quite quickly... because she's so little they had to remove it under anaesthetic," Alex explained.
Alex also had retinoblastoma as an infant and, although she was fortunate not to require surgery, she couldn't help but feel "guilty" that she had passed on the genetic condition.
"I was just in shock and [I felt] guilty, I didn't realise the implications of me giving it to her. It's a 50 per cent chance that I would pass it on, I've had to learn that through hindsight," she said.
Family fear Harper will lose other eye
The family of three now live in "four week increments" as there is a possibility Harper will develop the cancer in her other eye. Doctors will monitor her eye every four weeks until she is seven years old.
"It's caused by a gene mutation, it's genetic. There's a huge risk of it appearing in the other eye purely because of the chromosome difference. We're living life in four week increments now," she said.
Retinoblastoma is rare but it accounts for five per cent of all child blindness in Australia, according to Australian Cancer Research Foundation. It is a hereditary condition affecting the eye's retina, and early symptoms include the pupil appearing white, instead of red, when light is shone into it or pain and redness of the eye.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
