OMEN
06-03-2010, 10:23 PM
A holiday picture saved the life of a two-year-old boy after it spotlighted a cancerous tumour in his right eye.
Ewan Boarder, now three, showed no signs of being ill when the photograph was taken while on holiday on the Isle of Wight.
However, when his grandmother Beverly Warner saw the snap, in which a white shadow can be seen in Ewan's eye, she was immediately concerned.
She remembered reading about a child with cancer who had the same shadow in a photograph and warned Ewan's parents to get him checked out.
When mum Samantha, 32, took Ewan to the doctors he was sent to the local hospital before being referred to London where he was diagnosed with a retinoblastoma - a deadly tumour of the retina.
The camera flash had revealed light sensitive cells in his eye that could not be seen face-to-face - a sign of the eye cancer.
Doctors were forced to remove Ewan's eye but his quick diagnosis meant that the cancer had not spread to other parts of his body. He has since gone on to make a full recovery and has been fitted with a prosthetic eye.
Samantha said: "We are so lucky my mum spotted this in the picture and knew a bit about it."
Beverley Warner, 61, said: "I read a story last year about retinoblastoma and saw a picture of a child with it.
"I was flicking through pictures and thought Ewan's eye looked similar. A photo is such a simple thing but in this case it could have saved a life."
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Ewan Boarder, now three, showed no signs of being ill when the photograph was taken while on holiday on the Isle of Wight.
However, when his grandmother Beverly Warner saw the snap, in which a white shadow can be seen in Ewan's eye, she was immediately concerned.
She remembered reading about a child with cancer who had the same shadow in a photograph and warned Ewan's parents to get him checked out.
When mum Samantha, 32, took Ewan to the doctors he was sent to the local hospital before being referred to London where he was diagnosed with a retinoblastoma - a deadly tumour of the retina.
The camera flash had revealed light sensitive cells in his eye that could not be seen face-to-face - a sign of the eye cancer.
Doctors were forced to remove Ewan's eye but his quick diagnosis meant that the cancer had not spread to other parts of his body. He has since gone on to make a full recovery and has been fitted with a prosthetic eye.
Samantha said: "We are so lucky my mum spotted this in the picture and knew a bit about it."
Beverley Warner, 61, said: "I read a story last year about retinoblastoma and saw a picture of a child with it.
"I was flicking through pictures and thought Ewan's eye looked similar. A photo is such a simple thing but in this case it could have saved a life."
Orange