They were three things that I just couldn't get out of my head."Ĭillian Coyles, who his mum Leonnie Ord described as 'always happy and smiley' ![]() My main worries were that he was going to lose his little personality, hair and he was going to be really poorly. "Before we got down to Birmingham, we kind of accepted that we thought he was going to be diagnosed with cancer. So that obviously frightened the life out of me and I couldn't sleep that night. I knew that it was something, but I would never have guessed that it would have been cancer. I'd gone from one end of the scale to the other. Leonnie said: "When I was starting to Google it, I went from cataracts to cancer. Two days later they travelled to Birmingham Children's Hospital where he was officially diagnosed with retinoblastoma. He was then referred to a paediatrician eye doctor who revealed that the one-year-old had lost his vision in his left eye, and that he was almost certain he had retinoblastoma. Leonnie, who is also mum to five-year-old Aoife Coyles, contacted her GP and an optician before she rang A&E in October and spoke to a consultant who advised her to bring Cillian in to be seen. "So we knew there was something there that needed to be checked." I'd mentioned it to my partner Gary who hadn't seen it and we went a week and I was asking 'can you see that? Come and have a look at that' and then he started noticing. "When it started becoming more prominent and I was looking down at him I could see this white looking back at me, which now I know is the tumour in his eye. It was a white glow over all his pupil, it was as if he had a cat's eye. Then I started to notice it a little bit more and we moved to a house, which had a lot more light and then I started noticing it more. Leonnie said: "Last summer I started noticing a glow to his eye but it wasn't very often at all and I kind of put it down to a light reflection. Leonnie Ord, with fiance Gary Coyles and their children Cillian (one) and Aoife (five) The devoted mum-of-two said she didn't notice the glow in Cillian's eye very often until the weeks leading up to his diagnosis when it became more apparent. Every change in the eye doesn't mean that it could be cancer but if we'd spotted and got Cillian checked sooner he could have potentially still had his sight in his left eye, we just don't know." "Because as a parent you would rather be scared for a week waiting for an appointment than it being too late and your child losing their eye or sight, or the cancer has spread. If you notice something with your friend's child's eye or if you see a photo on Facebook, don't be frightened to alert that parent. ![]() If you see anything different with your child's eye, you need to get it checked out. Leonnie, from Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, said: "Essentially that happy, smiling picture of him hides a secret that can be deadly if it's not caught in time. After a "rollercoaster" couple of months, the 33-year-old is now urging parents to "know the glow" as awareness of this tell-tale sign could save a child's sight - and ultimately their life.įootage of Cillian in September reveals a faint white reflection in his eye while photos taken of him just three months later using flash show an unmistakable circular glow covering his pupil. ![]() READ MORE : Woman who 'won £60k EuroMillions jackpot' only receives £20k pay-outĭespite undergoing gruelling treatment, social worker Leonnie says the happy-go-lucky tot is doing so with a constant smile on his face. Little Cillian has lost vision in his left eye as a result of the tumour growing on his optic nerve and is now having targeted chemotherapy in order to shrink it. But in October it started to become more prominent and like he had a "cat's eye" so she and 36-year-old fiancé Gary Coyles sought medical advice.Īfter undergoing several tests, Cillian's parents were stunned when he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare type of eye cancer that commonly affects young children. Leonnie Ord said she started noticing a glow over her one-year-old son Cillian Coyles' left pupil in August but as it would come and go she just thought it was the light's reflection. A mum revealed how pictures of her happy, smiling tot hinted at a potentially-deadly secret after a white "glow" turned out to be cancer.
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