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A mother who took a photo of her baby son likely saved his life by revealing a cancerous tumour in his eye.
Andrea Temarantz, from the US state of Arizona, took her son to the doctor after she noticed that his eye glowed white when she took photos of him using a camera with a flash, she told ABC News .
Doctors then diagnosed 4-month-old Ryder with retinoblastoma, a form of cancer, in his left eye.
What Ms Temarantz’s camera had highlighted was a white tumour in the back of his eye, which reflected the flash’s light.
Ms Temarantz warned other parents to alert a doctor if they see a white glow in their child’s eye, and said her memory was triggered by a similar case two years ago.
"I didn't pay much attention to it so I don't know what it was but it was clear that it wasn't normal. As Ryder has gotten older I have noticed in every photo his eye is glowing like in this photo. Thankfully I mentioned this at his 4 month checkup," she wrote on Facebook.
Dr David H Abramson, chief of Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in New York City where the baby is being treated, praised Ms Temarantz for consulting a doctor quickly, as the cancer can be fatal if not caught early.
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He believes that Ryder now has a 99 per cent chance of survival.
Ryder also has Down’s Syndrome, meaning he is more prone to leukaemia. Therefore, doctors have decided to deliver chemotherapy directly to the tumour using a thin catheter, rather than subject his entire body to the treatment, his aunt wrote on the family’s fundraising page.
Support has since flooded for Temarantz family, with one stranger sending Ryder’s mother t-shirts for him and his brother reading “#CancerSucks” and “#PrayForRyder”.
“I got my mail and these 2 shirts were in there. I don't even know this lady. I can't believe I had never even heard of her awesome shop. It seriously made me cry,” she wrote on Facebook.
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