Mom looked at the picture she photographed of her 8-month-old daughter — a minor detail led to her cancer diagnosis

The mother was grateful that she noticed the detail and pushed for her baby to be looked at properly.

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(L) A baby taking a bath while being covered in foam. (R) A baby in a hospital crib. (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L) Kaboompics.com; (R) Jonathan Borba)

Paying attention to little signs can save a person's life. A mom experienced a similar incident when she noticed something unusual in her baby's picture. Her quest to find out the reason behind it led to the child's cancer diagnosis and eventually saved her life. The mom, Bronte Richards, shared how noticing the details of a picture and pushing for her daughter, Raye Vowles, to be looked at properly changed what could happen in such a scenario, per Wales Online

A person looking at baby pictures. Representative Image Source: Pexels | Cottonbro Studio

Richards took a picture of 8-month-old Vowles as she was playing in the bath. However, Richards accidentally left the flash on. But that innocent 'accident' helped her see a key sign that led to her daughter's rare eye cancer diagnosis. "I looked down at the picture I'd taken of my two children in the bath and while my one child looked completely normal with the flash on because he had two red pupils, Raye's left pupil was red, but the other was white," Richards revealed. "My flash had been accidentally on. And thank God it was. I took the picture again and again, and her right eye was exactly the same. It was a white pupil."

A person getting their eyes checked by a doctor. Representative Image Source: Pexels | Pavel Danilyuk

Richards searched on Google and found out that it had something to do with the optic nerve, and in rare cases, it could be a tumor. The mom kept thinking about the pictures and decided to take her daughter to a doctor the next day. She called her local surgery the following day, but they said her daughter sounded fine and she should keep an eye on the child. "I was still worrying, so I took Raye to Specsavers, where they looked at both eyes." The team explained that they couldn't find out what it was without her pupils being dilated. So they did an emergency appointment, took a dilation of her eyes and told them that everything was fine apart from a tear in the optic nerve. "I still didn't feel right with it and they invited me back and they looked again and they found three large tumors in her right eye. I couldn't believe it."

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Vowles was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer that usually affects young children. It impacts the retina, which is at the back of the eye. The white light in the pupil, like in Vowles' case, is the most common symptom. It is highly treatable if found early on, while still restricted to the eye. "After the diagnosis, it was just a whirlwind. We were sent straight to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where they discovered there was also a tumor growing in her left eye, but it's very small and isn't growing near the optic nerve, so they just need the chemotherapy to work quickly and fast for that tumor."

A doctor checking on a baby. Representative Image Source: Pexels | Jonathan Borba

"We have been told it's likely she'll be blind in her right eye after the treatment. She's currently having chemotherapy, and if it doesn't work, we're looking at her having to have her right eye removed," the mom shared. MRI scans have shown that the cancer was isolated to Vowles' eyes and hadn't spread. She was going to get 6 months of chemotherapy. "Had I not spotted it at the time the pictures were taken and had I not pushed for her to be looked at properly, it would have been a different story," Richards continued. "I want to warn others and explain how I found this because she could have died if it had been left for a long time." Moreover, Richards' family friend has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the family's financial burdens.