Greenwich Uni student Jade Shackcloth speaks about life after retinoblastoma

He took her straight to the doctor and, within days, she had been diagnosed with retinoblastoma and her left eye had been removed.

Jade, now 20, and living in West Wickham, said: “Luckily the GP had been studying childhood cancers so she recognised what it was quickly.

“I was brought up in Norfolk so I was sent straight to hospital in Norwich, then to St Bart’s in London.

“They gave my parents a tough choice – it may have been possible to save the eye with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or they could just take it out. There’s no guarantees with the other treatments.”

Jade had an artificial eye fitted and attended regular check-ups at St Bart’s to ensure the cancer had not come back.

To look at Jade now, it is hard to believe there was ever anything wrong with her.

She’s a confident, successful student at Greenwich University and she’s learning to drive with the help of her partner, Oliver.

But her childhood was not without its difficulties.

Jade said: “Primary school was fine, I was never segregated or made to feel different. I thought having an artificial eye was completely normal and I just called it my magic eye.

“I had more problems at secondary school. People started to drink and smoke and I wasn’t interested because of my health.

“Once people found out I’d had cancer I was bullied by my peers, and this destroyed my confidence but luckily I had a fantastic set of parents who always told me I was better than that.

“The worst part was that people were so misinformed about cancer, many thought you couldn’t get cancer of the eye.

“My GCSE coursework was stolen and my schoolwork was heavily disrupted. I could only do five GCSEs because of the problems I was having at school.

“But I was determined to show people that I was not going to be beaten. I went to college for three years, got my qualifications and I’m now at Greenwich University doing a BA in childhood studies.

“I’m a very lucky person and I thank my lucky stars every day. I only lost an eye. I can’t be a brain surgeon or a pilot but I can live with that.”

Read about Jade’s experiences at her blog, jadebythesea.com

FACTFILE

What is Retinoblastoma?
Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a fast growing eye cancer of early childhood. About two thirds of children with Rb have only one eye affected and in one third, tumours will develop in both eyes. Rb almost always develops before five years of age, and some children are born with the cancer.

How common is it?
Between 40-50 children are diagnosed each year in the UK, and it accounts for only about three out of every 100 cancers occurring in children under the age of 15 years.

What are the symptoms?
The most common symptom is an abnormal appearance of the pupil, which tends to reflect light as a white reflex, like a cat’s eye (as seen above). This is usually only visible to the naked eye in low artificial lighting, or in photographs where a flash has been used. Sometimes children have a squint. Less common signs are deterioration of vision, a red and irritated eye, pain or delayed development.

What is the treatment?
A number of different therapies are used to treat Rb. These include laser, cryotherapy (freezing the tumour), chemotherapy (drug treatment), radioactive plaque, radiotherapy and enucleation (surgical removal of the eye).

Prognosis
Nine out of 10 children are now successfully treated, and most retain some useful vision. Surveillance of children with a family history of Rb leads to earlier diagnosis.

For more about Rb, contact the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust on 020 7377 5578, email info@chect.org.uk or go to chect.org.uk, where you will find information on the trust’s current campaign to include information on Rb in NHS literature given to the parents of new-born babies.