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CANCER CENTER
Leah Van
Beveren
Diagnosed at 8 weeks old
Retinoblastoma
“I knew something was wrong the minute she was born,” said
Angela Van Beveren, Leah’s mother. “There was something not
quite right about her eyes.” At Leah’s two-week well baby
check-up, her pediatrician assured her that it was most
likely immature eye development. Angela and her husband,
Billy, went on living their lives as usual with Leah and
their two other children, Alli, 4, and Noah, 3.
A couple weeks later, still bothered by what seemed to be a
“lazy eye,” Angela noticed that in certain lighting, Leah’s
left eye glowed. Later, she began to see a white growth
through the pupil of her eye. She took photos of Leah and
noticed that instead of the typical red eye, her left pupil
was white; something she now knows is a key indicator of
retinoblastoma. She and her husband took Leah to the doctor
and they were directed to an ophthalmologist. On Oct. 13,
2003 an ultrasound discovered a mass on her left eye. The
next day, Leah had an MRI, which confirmed that there was a
tumor in her eye. On Oct. 15, following a CAT scan, the Van
Beverens were told that Leah had Retinoblastoma, a rare tumor
of the eye, usually affecting children under 3 years of age.
Leah was then sent to Texas Children’s Hospital. After
extensive testing, it was determined that the tumor
encompassed two-thirds of her left eye. Leah was eight weeks
old.
“I felt like a zombie when they told us she had cancer,” said
Angela. “Never in a million years do you think your child has
cancer. You hope that it’s a dream and when you wake up it
will all go away.”
The doctors and the Van Beverens opted to try to save Leah’s
eye through chemotherapy and laser treatments. She responded
well, and on April 5, 2004, the family celebrated her last
chemotherapy treatment. Throughout the summer, however, more
tumors appeared, while others became active once again, and
by the end of August, the Van Beverens had to make a decision
to remove her left eye or continue fighting the cancer. If
the cancer spreads beyond the eye, the survival rate
decreases dramatically. The choice was at the same time
difficult yet simple. On Sept. 22, Leah’s left eye was
removed. “It was a day filled with great sadness, but
remembered with joy, for when the eye was removed, the cancer
was too,” said Angela.
“The staff at Texas Children’s Hospital Cancer Center helped
explain to our two older children what was happening with
Leah. Everyone there treated all three of my children as
special including Leah’s siblings in fun activities and
special events. The hospital was and still is a place the
children look forward to visiting. It’s such a happy place.”
When Leah’s eye was removed, doctors replaced it with an
implant which they connected to the eye muscles and then
enclosed within her own tissue. Then in November 2004, Leah
received her first custom-painted prosthetic eye. It is
similar to a contact lens and moves along with her healthy
eye. “It’s amazing; you can’t tell that it isn’t her real
eye,” said Angela. “We call it her ‘hero eye’ because it
saved her life.” Leah appears to the unknowing just like any
other child her age. Despite a long, complicated medical
history, she is a happy, resilient little girl who is
enjoying her childhood.
Leah is officially cancer-free. She continues to be monitored
to ensure that she remains as such, and, each year on
September 22, Leah’s family celebrates the date her eye was
removed as a victory over her illness. Says Angela, “We
choose to think of it as a celebration day because that's the
day Leah became cancer-free.”
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