In
today's mobile society a cellular phone has become a necessity. We
use them to stay in touch with friends & family, connecting to
social networks, taking pictures & videos and much more on our
daily commutes. As one Illinois mom can attest we can add diagnosing
cancer to the reasons we need our cellular phones.
“I
did not want to take the picture because I had this dreaded feeling
in the pit of my stomach,” Julie Fitzgerald told CNN. “I took the
picture, and boom: His whole pupil was just white— and that’s
when I knew.”
In
the picture one her son's pupils showed up as white showing some
forming of anomaly. Once they saw the result her and her husband took
their son, Avery, to the doctor. The doctor confirmed their worst
nightmare when he told them that indeed Avery had a rare eye cancer
called retinoblastoma.
The cancer had grown to the point there were tumors in 75% of his
eye. The only option was to have the eye removed before the cancer
spread to his brain.
"He
took one look and said there are multiple, multiple tumors,"
Julie says.
Having
no other choice the parents opted to have the surgery that take one
of their son's eyes. Once he is fully recovered he will have a
prosthetic eye put in his now empty socket.
Patrick
Fitzgerald offered some simple advice for other fathers regarding
their children’s health: “Trust your gut,” he told CNN. “Trust
a momma’s gut … and don’t wait. Don’t wait to see if it
improves.”
The
doctors still have more test to run on Avery to find out if he is at
risk of the cancer re-assert itself.
Mrs.
Fitzgerald is not the first mother to use her cellular phone as a
diagnostic tool. A woman in Arizona discovered a similar anomaly when
she took a picture of her infant. The diagnosis in that case was also
retinoblastoma.
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