Family photos may save life of cancer toddler

FAMILY snapshots taken of a toddler may have saved his life after the images revealed he was suffering from a rare malignant cancer.

Jacob Rouse was only diagnosed after his mother Samantha was looking at the photographs and became concerned about one of his eyes looking completely white.

At first friends and family told her there was nothing to worry about, but the auxiliary nurse was not convinced and persuaded her GP to refer him to hospital.

The nine-month-old baby has since been diagnosed as having

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retinoblastoma, a rapidly developing cancer which forms in the cells of the retina, the light-detecting tissue in the eyes.

Jacob has lost the sight in his left eye and is having chemotherapy and laser treatment at Birmingham Children's Hospital which should save his right eye.

Mrs Rouse, 23, from Hull, said: "You would never have thought there was anything wrong with Jacob. He was just a normal happy baby.

"It was only when I got some photos developed that I noticed Jacob's eye was white.

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"Nobody believed there was anything wrong, even my GP told me it was just the flash and he was reluctant to refer us.

"Maybe my job makes me more cautious. It definitely means I was able to stand up to the doctor and insist Jacob went to hospital."

Jacob was finally diagnosed at Hull Royal Infirmary last November, but Mrs Rouse and husband Dane, 25, who gave up his job as a joiner to look after their sick son, were shocked when they discovered the full extent of his illness.

Doctors told them Jacob was blind in his left eye as a result of three large tumours in his line of vision but they were unable to tell the devastated parents when he lost his sight, as it depended on when the tumours had formed, something they could not determine.

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He also has three smaller tumours in his right eye, which might cause him to go completely blind.

The mother-of-three said: "We knew something was wrong, but we didn't expect it to be cancer. Because it's such a rare type of cancer, we didn't know anything about it at all. We were completely shocked, he's our baby."

Jacob's siblings Phoebe, three, and Harry, two, have been tested for the rare genetic disease, which only affects one in 15,000 people and tends to develop in children before the age of five. Worringly tests so far have showed Harry has white spots in his eyes which are cause for concern

Since Jacob's diagnosis the family have had to travel to Birmingham Children's Hospital every three weeks for laser treatment and to St James's Hospital in Leeds where he has been receiving life-saving chemotherapy.

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Mrs Rouse said: "He's been so brave. Of course he has off days, and he gets sick after the chemotherapy, but to look at him you wouldn't think anything was the matter. He's such a happy boy. "

Mrs Rouse urged other parents to be vigilant about the risks to their own children.

"I would definitely urge other parents to check their children's eyes," she said. "If it hadn't been for my taking photos and insisting he got checked at hospital, he might have already lost his sight."

She added: "We're taking each day as it comes, but our family and friends have been amazing and we're hoping Jacob's sight will be saved."

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