–as it launches fundraiser to help save toddler’s sight

A NEWLY formed non-profit organisation, Sar and B, is calling on the public to support their effort to get three-year-old Crystal John to Cuba in order to treat her retinoblastoma.

While the organisation only went public on Sunday, its founder, Bibi Sheonarine feels it’s ready to fulfil its mandate of helping those in need.

Their immediate focus is on helping little Crystal, who has retinoblastoma, get to Cuba in order to save her sight and even her life.

Retinoblastoma 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.

As Sheonarine explained, if Crystal’s family doesn’t get help to take her overseas for tertiary medical attention, the child may very well lose her sight altogether.

At just two months old, the child developed a bulb-like growth 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 now, almost two-and-a-half years after doctors had reassured her family that everything would be alright, the tumour has returned, but this time in the right eye.

Sheonarine is afraid that if the child does not receive treatment in time, the right eye as well will have to be removed to stop the cancer from spreading to her brain.

Persons who are interested in knowing more about the child’s condition and how they can help are asked to make contact with Sheonarine on cellphone number: 687-7171 or 690-0866.