THREE-YEAR-OLD Crystal John of Linden will soon lose the chance of ever seeing again, if her family does not receive assistance to take her overseas for tertiary medical attention.
At the age of just two months old, the child had a bulb-like object in her left eye and after a medical check-up was done, doctors discovered that she had retinoblastoma.

As a result, Crystal’s left eye was removed in order to save her life, but almost two and a half years after doctors had assured her family that everything would be alright, the tumour has returned, but this time in the right eye.
Retinoblastoma (Rb) is defined as a rare form of cancer that rapidly develops from the immature cells of a retina, the light-detecting tissue of the eye. It is the most common primary malignant intraocular cancer in children, and it is almost exclusively found in young children.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), retinoblastoma is the most frequent neoplasm of the eye in childhood and represents three per cent of all childhood malignancies. It is a cancer of the very young; two-thirds are diagnosed before two years of age, and 95 per cent before five years.
The WHO recommended that for those reasons, therapeutic approaches need to consider not only the curing of the disease, but also the need to preserve vision with minimal long-term side effects.

Crystal’s mother LaShawn Daniels told this publication that after noticing a mass in the child’s right eye, they took her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where she was diagnosed with the disease.

In order to minimise the symptoms of the disease while the doctors did a biopsy, Daniels said they took the child to Courts Optical where her eyes were tested and she received a pair of glasses, but within a few days, her eye started “straying away” from the glasses.
Daniels once again made the journey from Linden to the GPHC where she was advised that the eye needs to be removed in order for the child to live.

“I was hoping that they would not say that to me again, so in order to get a different response I went to the Balwant Singh Hospital, where I found out that in addition to retinoblastoma, my daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma,” said the distraught mother.

She said that she was still not convinced that the only route to giving her daughter a chance at life was to remove her eye, so she sought further advice but was told that in order to get more advice, she had to go to a tertiary institution in either Canada or the United States of America (USA).

The mother of three relayed that she was traumatised after learning what her next option was. When asked if doctors advised her which hospital would be the most suitable, she said she was only told to go to those countries in order to get further advice.
As time passes, the concerned mother continues to think that she will have to resort to the local option, because her family cannot afford to travel abroad to get treatment for her daughter.

In addition, a doctor’s letter revealed that the child has been partially blind for close two months and will soon be fully blind unless something is done.
Daniels said doctors advised her to get the child into a medical institution that offers chemotherapy but according to her, the total sum for that form of treatment if US$30,000.

“I am stuck in between two rocks right now because I can’t afford to take my daughter abroad, nor pay for her to receive chemotherapy, so I don’t know what can be done… I really want my daughter to see again,” she said.
The woman believes that the universe is against her because no other member of her family was ever diagnosed with such a disease.

But, with no other option left, she is calling on the public to help her financially in order to save her daughter’s life and help her see again.
Persons who are interested in knowing more about the child’s condition and how they can help could make contact with Daniels on cellphone number 687-7171 or 690-0866.