Pediatrician told mom her daughter's wandering left eye was normal — then she spotted something on baby monitor that confirmed her fears
Way before the diagnosis, the hospital corridors and the arduous conversations, there was just a mother watching her kid grow up. In August 2025, Draime had observed that her 2-year-old daughter Miley sometimes let her left eye shift, as reported by Newsweek. A pediatrician convinced her it was probably strabismus, a common issue in children. A referral to an ophthalmologist was scheduled for December, but in November, it all changed. “On November 8, we noticed a white in the pupil of her eye when she looked up at me. I then took a picture of her with the flash on and I could still see a white in her pupil,” Draime said. It wasn’t causing pain in Miley, aside from being slightly clumsier.
After failing to ignore, she began browsing online and came across a lot of retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina. Then read a story about another parent who noticed an absence of “glow” in a baby monitor reflection. “I quickly ran to the monitor after we put our daughter to sleep and she didn’t have a glow in her bad eye. I was horrified,” she continued while talking to Newsweek.
The remaining night passed by in tears. The following morning, Draime conducted one more test: she covered Miley’s right eye and immediately, the left eye became lazy. Without any delay, she drove straight to the kids' emergency room. “The doctor called an ophthalmologist into the ER, who looked into her eyes and then did an ultrasound. This ultrasound showed the tumor and we were told it was retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer in the eye,” she said.
“It was the worst thing we ever heard… she would never have sight in that eye again… I knew this was coming… but to hear it confirmed… was brutal.” On November 21, Miley underwent surgery to remove the affected eye; turns out the tumor had filled the entire area, detaching the retina. Whether she needs chemotherapy or not totally depends on the biopsy results. Telling Miley about all of it was one of the hardest things Draime ever had to do. “She couldn’t see out of that eye and we did our best to gently explain she would go ‘night night’ and wake up with one eye,” she said. Miley was her same fun-loving self while recovering, something that has calmed her mother.
The Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association stressed the ripple effects of childhood cancer, that survivors often run into higher risks of anxiety and depression later in life. And parents carry emotional burdens as well, which can lead to a rise in mental health concerns. After posting her experience on TikTok, Draime found herself unexpectedly going viral. In a clip in which she was trying to explain the surgery to her daughter, gathered over 6.4 million views and thousands of comments poured in. @Mcgriddle advised, “Maybe a doll/ stuffed animal with just one eye also to help her with the process? God is with you!!”
“I hold a lot of guilt that I can’t just give my eye away so Miley doesn’t feel alone, but because she went viral, we met tons of people who have lost an eye or know someone else who has,” she told Newsweek. The whole community has become more supportive than she ever expected.
@kpdraime33 Explaining to my sweet 2 year old daughter with cancer that she is going to need her eye removed. The hardest thing we’ve had to face. The hardest thing to explain. #childhoodcancer #cancer #retinoblastoma #prosetheticeye #fuckcancer ♬ original sound - Kristen Draime
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