Julie Fitzgerald was worried about the strange spots in her 2-year-old son’s eyes, but she and her husband initially ignored them. But she couldn’t get over a nagging suspicion that something was wrong with Avery’s eye.
When I saw a viral story on Facebook about how a white glow in a child’s eye indicated cancer, I was alarmed. The test is very simple – take a photo. So I took a picture of Avery and there was an unmistakable white glow in one of his eyes.
Avery immediately went to the doctor and was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. They said the cancerous growths covered 75% of his eye, but they caught the cancer in time!
“If we’re not careful, the cancer will spread through his blood and into his brain,” Fitzgerald told ABC News. “Our life went from normal to cancer survivor to cancer survivor in three weeks. It turned out to be our worst nightmare, but it saved our son’s life.”
Avery will receive an artificial eye and will continue to be tested to see if he is at risk of developing more cancer. Fitzgerald is sharing his son’s story with the world in hopes of helping other families who may not know they face the same dangers.
